TABLE OF CONTENTS Dr. Ken-ichi Shinotani
Matsushita Electric Works, Japan
Jens Malmodin
Ericsson, Sweden
Richard Trankell
Ericsson, Sweden
Introduce the environmental issues in electronics.
Describe how electronics production affects the environment and introduce the current technologies being proposed.
Describe the importance of design, which takes into account the entire life cycle of the product.
Describe the future prospects of electronics.
Electronics production is beginning to pose a serious threat to the environment. The factors that contribute to this problem include the energy used during the production of components and system-level boards, as well as during usage of the final electronic product. This chapter introduces specific hazardous chemicals, such as the use of lead in soldering and halogens in organic boards, that contribute to this problem. It also discusses some of the ways to overcome this problem in a total life cycle that goes from the design of the system to the disposal of that system at the end of its life.
Electronics manufacturing and usage and disposal of electronics products are perturbing the balance of the atmosphere land ocean system that supports life on earth. Information technology (IT) is the dominant industry, growing from todays 3% of the worlds gross domestic product to as much as 50% by the end of the 21st century. While IT improves the global standard of living on the positive side, its environmental impact poses a...
