By John DeFore

The consumer-electronics industry may not rank as high as oil companies and SUV-peddlers in terms of perceived eco-villainy, but it’s hardly blameless when it comes to the environment. After all, it’s an industry revolving around products that usually consume more electricity than they should, are often made using precious and/or toxic substances, and are designed to be obsolete in a period best measured in months, not years.

Enter Greener Gadgets, a conference held in February to address everything from product design and manufacture to what to do with goods once they’ve become e-waste.

Presented by the design bloggers at Inhabitat and the firm Marc Alt + Partners, it was the first in what — thanks to sellout crowds and enthusiastic feedback — will likely be a series of events.

The most eye-catching part of the conference for non-industry folk (aside from the fact that familiar paper/glass/cans recycling bins in the hall were joined by one for compost-friendly refuse) was a design competition (view video) co-sponsored with online design magazine Core77. Aspiring inventors worldwide were invited to imagine “greener gadgets” that offered “innovative solutions addressing the issues of energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle, and social development.”

One of the judges was Ryan Block, whose Engadget is a daily must-read for techno-addicts around the web. Block, who typically sees the industry’s new products long before consumers do (and isn’t afraid to be critical of them), says he “was very impressed” with the entries. “There were definitely some inventive designs that showed real ingenuity.”

While casual observers may have expected big-name companies to enter the contest — most seem pretty eager to bolster their Green credentials in other ways — Block wasn’t at all surprised at their absence. “I don’t think many big companies see value in entering pre-production designs in contests,” he explained, “especially since they’re usually trying to keep them secret.”

Moreover, he seems to doubt they would have made a splash in the contest: “Consumer electronics companies are often lumbering, bureaucratic, and don’t work well with others, so I think revolutionary innovation is most often — but not always — apt to take place in startups and by independent thinkers.”

Pages: 1 2 3