8A
NEWS WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN KANSAN.COM
ENVIRONMENT
Greenpeace releases guide to electronics
BY AMANDA THOMPSON
athompson@kansan.com
Consumers are asked to "go green" just about every day. Whether it's watching commercials for environmentally friendly cars and cleaning products or seeing reusable totes that line grocery store aisles, students are not strangers to the message. And Greenpeace wants this kind of green mentality to reach consumers when they think about purchasing the latest gadgets.
Greenpeace recently released its first 2010 edition of the "Guide to Greener Electronics." The guide, which was first released in August 2006, comes out every few months and ranks top manufacturing companies based on environmental practices. This includes proper handling of chemicals and energy efficiency of products.
For students who are green at heart and looking for more ways to clean up their act, the sidebar shows how the top five companies earned recognition for being environmentally friendly.
GREENPEACE'S DEMANDS
Greenpeace calls on the companies to meet three main demands. According to greenpeace.org, electronic manufacturers should:
Clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances.
Take back and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.
- Reduce the climate impacts of their operations and products.
By encouraging companies to take back older products and recycle them. Greenpeace aims to reduce what's often referred to as eWaste, or electronic waste. Electronic
waste, according to the Greenpeace website, is often improperly discarded and exported to third world countries where eWaste yards have been established for the convenient dumping of products from developed countries.
E-WASTE PROGRAM
The University has its own program to reduce the widespread problem of electronic waste. Karen Nicholas, communications coordinator with information technology, said the University's eWaste program had received more than 250 requests for recycling eWaste since it began service in July.Before
this option was available each department was responsible for the disposal of its own electronics.
Nicholas said the program came about because many departments around campus is lost.
had requested a service such as this
"We do buy all the equipment with energy star rates ... that's a factor."
looked into many aspects of electronic manufacturers when deciding what companies to purchase from.
"In addition to the environmental benefit of recycling these items, Information Technology can ensure that the items are securely wiped of their KU data and content prior to being recycled," she said in an e-mail. It's free to recycle most products, but there is a recycling fee of $5 for certain computer monitors and a fee of $15 for TVs.
The program will accept and recycle electronics including servers, desktops, workstations, thumb drives, cell phones, tapes, printers, monitors, telephones, network gear and more.
ELECTRONICS AT KU
BARRY SWANSON Director of purchasing
Barry Swanson, director of purchasing and strategic sourcing with the University's purchasing department, said the University
"We do buy all the equipment with energy star rates, and certainly the green movement that's
Although he said decisions were currently made mostly based on price and company service, the environment was playing an increasingly important role in those decisions. Although the environmental friendliness of electronics companies was not currently an official review criteria for the purchasing department, he said he wouldn't be surprised if that didn't change at some point.
on going, that's a factor," Swanson said.
He said that in the past seven or eight years, the University purchased mostly Dell computers, which placed 14th out of the 18 compa-
ranked in its guide.
Zack McDougall, buyer and staff supervisor for the Tech Shop in the KU Bookstore, said the Tech Shop sold mostly Apple, Dell and HP computers, which are ranked 5th, 14th and 11th, respectively.
"They're the top three notebook manufacturers in the U.S. right now," McDougall said. "Chances are, if you're going to buy a computer, it's going to be from one of those three brands."
He said the Tech Shop sold products from eight of the 18 manufacturers that Greenpeace ranked.
"We do everything we can to make sure we're carrying an expansive collection of green and greener items from every brand we stock," he said.
Edited by Taylor Bern
LOG IN AT http://kansascensus.ku.edu
Students are required to complete the Kansas census in order to enroll for summer or fall. It is state law!
Enrollment begins MARCH 25.
INTERNATIONAL
General explains warning
U.S. leader says Army wanted to reduce number of civilian casualties
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHARLOTTE. N.C. — The general commanding the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan said Tuesday the military took a calculated risk when it warned people in the Afghan city of Marjah of a major offensive designed to clear the area of insurgents.
Army Gen. David Petraeus said the main reason was to reduce civilian casualties.
"We have to do everything possible to limit the loss of innocent life, and that they know that we are doing that as well," he said.
He said that some extremists may have escaped with the advanced warning, but that they would be "hunted down."
"We've killed boatloads of bad
guys in Afghanistan." Petraeus told several hundred people at a luncheon sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Charlotte, a nonpartisan group that educates members about international issues.
Petraeus said the U.S. is making progress in a campaign to drive extremists from Afghanistan, but he also warned that the mission is far over.
"This is going to be a hard year. There is nothing easy about Afghanistan." Petraeus said.
Instead of making a speech, Petraeus, who was the top commander in Iraq before becoming head of the U.S. Central Command in October 2008, answered questions from the audience.
They asked him about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and even
whether he would consider a run for president. He smiled and quoted what he said was a line from a song: "What about 'No' don't you understand?"
Petraeus told the crowd that after more than eight years of fighting in Afghanistan, the U.S. finally is getting troops, diplomats and organizational structure to be able to keep extremist groups from taking over again there.
But he also cautioned that the mission would take considerable time.
"This is a 12 to 18 month campaign we are embarking on. It's not going to be easy," he said.
"We cannot let Afghanistan become a sanctuary or safe haven again for Al-Qaeda or other terrorists," he said.