A Framework For More Sustainable Electronics

TED Fellow Dominec Muren of Humblefacture writes:

...rather than throwing away the order that we have spent so much energy to impose on the matter in electronic devices, it would be better if we could somehow disintegrate and re-integrate these devices into new devices, with new, more useful functions. After all, in most cases, electronics are discarded because they are out of style, or outmoded for a particular task. Perhaps your phone won't receive pictures, or use polyphonic ring-tones. Maybe you want a touchscreen. In other cases, electronics can be "broken" when their mechanical parts like hinges or screws break, even though their electronic guts are still perfectly intact. Finally, sometimes something like a screen or battery will break, leaving the balance of electronic parts -- and all the value embodied in them -- still working.
In any case, disposing of these electronics represents a disposal of value, and a loss of embodied complexity -- and energy.

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