Eco-impact calculators become part of design engineering.
by Kenneth Wong
The sleek mobile tablet at your fingertips, the stylish sunglasses in your pocket, and the point-and-shoot camera you use to capture your Kodak moments--they all have an ecological lifespan that's much longer than you think. The time the product remains in your possession--its duration of operation and service--may be just a few months (a pair of sunglasses) to a couple of years (a tablet or a digital camera), but its ecological footprint has been established long before you pick it up from your local mall. It will continue to grow long after its disposal. A series of decisions made in the manufacturing process--using polycarbonate instead of scratch-resistant borosilicate materials for a lens, or using injection molding instead of machining for a latch--affects a product's environmental impact.
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