Sadly, the fallout from this practice doesn’t just pinch the pocketbook. Landfills in America are overflowing with broken, worn out, or otherwise not currently useful products; things that decades ago might have been simply repaired or serviced with a replacement part. Now it’s rare to find devices that can even be disassembled without voiding a warranty. 

This problem is especially true of electronics, like cell phones, personal music players and televisions. These products often contain large amounts of hazardous materials like lead, cadmium, and phosphorous, which present a serious ecological danger if—as all to often happens—they are disposed of improperly.

But one group of Americans, equal parts enterprising, thrifty, environmentally conscious, and curious, have begun a literal movement to contravene the wastefulness of consumerist culture. It’s called the “Maker Movement,” and it’s begun to make an impact; the movement’s bible, Make Magazine, already claims a circulation of 110,000.

As Make Magazine editor Dale Dougherty recently told NPR, the movement boils down to a simple question: “What can I do with my first generation digital camera or second generation digital camera or my first iPod? I mean, they’re lying in a closet somewhere. I can do something interesting with them, that—it’s part of the assets we have at hand; why not use them somehow?” 

Being a member of the Maker Movement, or simply a “Maker,” as they’ve termed themselves, has not always been easy.  Corporate culture, especially profitable corporate culture, dies hard. But with a clearly delineated manifesto, several corporations have taken notice of the rising demand for parts than can be replaced, devices that can be opened, and schematics that can be easily read. 

Apple has been one of the most obvious converts to this new corporate ideology. While first-generation iPods were glued shut and unserviceable, a recent analysis shows that nearly every part on the new iPhone 3G can be accessed and replaced with a minimal amount of technical savvy. The company’s distinctive laptops also have also become far more user serviceable over the years; new MacBooks now have memory and a hard drive tucked just behind the battery, where drive replacement on an older iBook was a complex, time-consuming project. 

The end result of all this reinventing and refurbishing isn’t just less junk in landfills, and fewer chemicals in the water supply. Reducing the turnover of products decreases the amount of energy spent on production, and, as a vast majority of products are produced in distant areas where labor comes cheap, energy spent in transport as well.

That adds up to a tremendous reduction in carbon footprint, as well as lessened demand on thin-stretched gas and diesel supplies, and thus lowered pressure to drill for oil in ecologically sensitive areas.  So it’s clear to see that, in the long run, reusing, repairing, and refurbishing your old or damaged products can end up saving you far more than money.

Related articles:
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Computer Manufacturers Compete with Eco-Friendly Initiatives
Best Buy Will Recycle Your Electronic Waste

Photo by Flickr user Michael R. Johnson

LED lights, or light emitting diodes, are hardworking little semiconductors that that turn energy into light, the opposite way a solar cell functions.

The energy consumption of regular streetlights is glaring. The dozen largest cities in the U.S. alone host over four million streetlights that suck up three billion kilowatts of energy a year. The environmental cost is millions of metric tons of carbon dioxide, or hundreds of thousands of cars on the road. All this waste is unnecessary with LED lights, which are many times more efficient than incandescent or fluorescent lights.

Though LEDs are more costly up front, because the streetlights we are accustomed to are energy dinosaurs, they pay themselves off in less than five years.
LED lights offer municipalities other cost advantages. Never will you have the creepy flickering streetlamp with an LED light; there is no filament to burn out, reducing maintenace. LED lights are up to 10 times more efficient than incandescent lights because the heat in an LED is almost completely turned into light, not wasted as heat, so they last longer. Because LED lights are plastic rather than glass, they also are less likely to crack or shatter.

Installing LED lights can be paired with installing computer networks that respond to real-time conditions, changing the amount of streetlight as necessary. This allows cities to customize their lighting according to season, neighborhood safety, or storm conditions. To boot, the low energy cost of LED lighting makes it more feasible to fit streetlamps with mini solar cells themselves, taking them off the grid entirely.

Regular streetlights are also the culprit of light pollution -- the glow that comes from cities, so bright that it is observable by satellite. To the delight of astronomers everywhere, LED lights produce a more focused, spotlight-like beam. LED lights may also be coated with thin nanocrystals, resulting in natural seeming light rather than fluorescent’s wash-out blue or sodium’s fuzzy yellow glow.

LED lights offer an array of other benefits. Because they don’t emit UV rays, they don’t attract insects. Because their size and shape are easily manipulated, they offer significant design flexibility. This flexibility has led to advances in flat screens, traffic lights, pdas, laptops, flashlights, Christmas lights, headlamps, surgical equipment and now, your neighborhood.

Related articles:
"Holy Grail" of LEDs: Pure White Light Achieved
We Have the Tools and Smarts to Create a Greener Energy Future
LED Lights Shine at Saving Energy in Tech Gear

Photo by OSRAM Opto Semiconductors