This year’s International Consumer Electronics Show, held in Las Vegas from January 8to 11, was one of the greenest innovation events on record. The CES connects global markets, allowing innovators from across the globe to meet, discuss and learn from each other. Owned and produced by the Consumer Electronics Association, a U.S consumer electronics trade association, the CES is an opportunity for mutual eco-friendly exploration – an opportunity that many businesses are joining wholeheartedly.
A Global, Green Event
As a truly international event, the CES has included over 3,000 exhibitors and 150,000 attendees who travelled from over 150 countries. The CES offers engineers, businessmen and CEOs the chance to interact in one centralized location, decreasing the carbon footprint of business travel other times of the year. This intensive, focused event facilitates not only technological growth and innovation, but also a green way to communicate with a large amount of individuals at once.
In addition to some of the electronics (including tablets, mobile phones, and laptops) on display, the CES itself is running on a green ethos and employs multiple green initiatives in an attempt to give back to the Las Vegas community. For instance, the badge holders made by Repurpose AMERICA have been made from banners used at the 2012 CES; there is an increase in reuse/recycle policies from last year; and reusable carpets have been laid down for the exhibit floor aisles, registration and tech zones. Additionally, graphics at the event are printed using innovative soy ink.
The Sustainable Planet display
Flickr/International CES
This Sustainable Planet Display area of the TechZone contained technologies for sustainable energy, renewable resources and international development. These products are intended to help allow individuals to stay connected and live sustainably. There is a focus on green building technologies, alternative energy, green business methods, solar products, and smart grid technology.
The Sustainable Planet TechZone boasts a multitude of eco-friendly industries. One such company, the Concept Green Energy Solutions, Inc., of California works to provide energy generating products such as portable solar-assist chargers and generators for renewable energy. Another company, the Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies of Singapore, is the world’s leading producer of fuel cells. China’s Shenling Environmentally Friendly Packing Material Company is promoting a new type of packing materials which can serve as a substitute for environmentally harmful foam and plastic packaging.
GoElectricDrive
The GoElectricDrive section of the TechZone showcased electric drive technologies and products. Present in this section will be the Electric Drive Transportation for Washington, DC, a trade association promoting battery, hybrid and fuel cell driving technologies. Also present was ChargePoint, a company from California that has the largest network of independently owned changing stations in the world. Finally, Tata Elxsi for India promoted their creative technological engineering methods of helping clients transform ideas to products in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Other Achievements
While a green initiative is a core feature of this year’s consumer electronics show, it would be remiss not to mention some of the other fascinating advancements coming out of this event. Mobile phones are being featured prominently at the CES, including the Sony Xperia Z smartphone, which can be left underwater for up to a half an hour without malfunctioning. As one in five people drop their phones in the toilet at some point, according to a study by Plaxo, this feature on the Xperia Z may be useful to many.
Lenovo’s station stirred onlookers with their 27-inch touch-screen interpersonal computer which can be used by up to four people at once. While the purpose of a traditional Lenovo laptop is primarily for personal computing, the IdeaCenter Horizon PC was made specifically with social interaction in mind and will be fully equipped to support family games like Monopoly.
These products are just a few examples of the global innovations on display at the CES. With a strong focus on green initiatives, the future is looking up for the acceptance of these products, which will hopefully make it into mainstream production.
