1. Designed for the Circular Economy
iameco
Green Week 2014
Circular economy – saving
resources, creating jobs

2. Did you know?
 The average lifespan of computers in
developed countries has dropped from six
years in 1997 to just two years in 2005.
 183 million computers were sold worldwide
in 2004 - 11.6 percent more than in 2003.
 By 2010, there will be 716 million new
computers in use, there will be 178 million
new computer users in China, 80 million new
users in India.

3. Green Computers?
 Dream of environmentally
aware IT developers
 Several have developed
models they describe as
“Green”
 Secured the various eco-labels
 But are any really Ecological?
 E.g. Siemens Nixdorf PCD-4L
(1993)
 E.g. First Apple Computer

4.  Wholly Irish owned SME, established in 1991
 Computer sales and repair centre
 Designers and manufacturers of eco-friendly
computers
 Based in Rathfarnham, Dublin employing 22
staff.
 ISO14001 and ISO9001 accredited.
 Have been developing eco-friendly
computers since 1991
Who is MicroPro?

5. MicroPro XPC (1999)
 Supported by Enterprise
Ireland’s Environmentally
Superior Products Programme
(ESP)
 Extension of operational life of
hardware via upgradable
chassis with modular interface
design
 Developing the assembly
potential of the design to
increase recycling and reuse
 Improving energy efficiency of
conventional models

6. iameco v1 (2003)
 Module in recycled
aluminium and wood veneer
 Screen, mouse and
keyboard in wood
 Upgradable chassis
 Designed for reuse
 Modular internal port design
 Designed to EU Eco-Label
standards
Supported by the EC’s LIFE +
Environment Programme and
the Irish EPA’s Cleaner Greener
Production Programme

7. iameco v3 (2010)
Supported by Irish EPA’s
Cleaner Greener
Production Programme.
 75% reduction in CO2 emission
 75% reduction in fresh water use
 98% of materials recyclable (by
weight)
 Hazardous and no-recyclable
materials eliminated
 Life extension to 10 years (x3)
 Awarded EU Eco-Label in 2010

8. iameco D4R Laptop
 Supported by ZeroWIN (Zero
Waste Industrial Networks)
Project (EC - FP7
Programme)

9. - 30% - 75%
- 75%
ZeroWIN Project Targets

10. GHG reduction impact - 61%

11. Reduce waste by reuse and
recycling impact - 62% and 89%

12. Water reduction impact - 55%

13. iameco industrial network

14. Service Agency Network
 Industry partners in different regions
able to carry out repair, up-grading,
take-back and remanufacture,
 Recycling and Reuse companies are
natural Partners
 Need to be in place before sales can
take off.
Marketing
 Marketing by ourselves?
 Marketing with Partners ?
 With Retailers
 From other Countries?

15. Reduce waste by
 Using low-carbon
materials
 Using reused materials
and components
 Design is easy to
repair, upgrade and
disassemble
 Making more reusable
 Guaranteeing a
longer life (10 years)
Source: S. Hickey1, at alTOWARDS ZERO WASTE IN INDUSTRIAL
NETWORKS: A CASE STUDY OF THE D4R LAPTOP
Eco-design
principles:

16. ZeroWIN Report on Barriers to Market
Barriers Solutions
 Developing a unique Brand
 Affordable pricing of product
 Making manufacture viable
 Identification of target
markets
 Identification of marketing
tools and instruments
 Providing the cradle to
cradle service
 Continuing eco-design
improvements
 A marketing study
 A “bottom line” expression
of demand
 A high profile marketing
campaign
 Setting up a trans-national
service network starting
with key markets
 Continuing R&D into cradle
to cradle
eco-design

17. Product
Advantages
Promotion
Key
Target
Groups
Key Actors
for an
optimal
outreach

18. Further design improvements?
 More R&D
 Improved design
 Keeping up with state-of-the-art
 Life Cycle Assessment results
Improved Manufacturing
• Wooden parts – new and
reused - who can supply?
• Metal – new and recycled -
who can supply?
• Components -new and
reused – who can supply?

19. LCA for eco-design?
 To date, LCA studies have
been contracted to external
experts, and covered by
national or EU Grant funding.
 Parameters in LCA software
tools: Weight based
(weighting of all components
needed? Is weight a suitable
indicator?), or technical
parameters, which are not
known to an SME (silicon
area of a chip?)
MicroPro are partners in LCA to
Go:
 Tools suitable for in-house use
 Technical parameters: HDD
capacity, CPU type, PSU
wattage… directly linked to
environmental data
 Customised coverage of
MicroPro’s business strategy
(assessing reuse, lifetime
extension conveniently)

20. LCA to go tool for electronics
Exemplarydataonly

21. LCA to go tool for electronics
Exemplarydataonly
Product:
Design lifetim e:
ProductCarbon Footprint:
lifetim e 3 years
no repair
no reuse
3,9 g /h
12 kg/year
2,0 kg saved -30%
5,0 g saved -50%
Environm entalD ata Sheet
CO 2-eq.savingsperhourusage
com pared to a conventionalproduct
CO 2-eq.savingsperyearcom pared
to a conventionalproduct
M akeM eEcoPC
10 years
427,9 kg CO 2eq
Benchm ark Scenario
ProductCarbon Footprint
Given the long productlifetim e the com puterisused very efficiently.
Com pared w ith a benchm ark product,w hich featuresan average
lifetim e typicalforsuch productstoday,the greenhouse gasem issions
perhourusage ism uch low er.
Resource savings
Through the use oflessresource-intensive com ponents,design forrecycling,and ourproductstrategy targeting ata long product
lifetim e,follow ing m etalsare saved am ong othersthroughoutthe productlife com pared to a conventionalproduct:
im pacts perhourusage and com pared to a conventionalproduct
The em issionsofgreenhouse gasesoverthe w hole productlife cycle isone indicatorto verify,how "green"a productis.W ith our
businessm odeland productdesign approach w e intend to m inim ise the footprintofourproducts.
The production ofelectronicspartsand com ponentsisvery energy
intensive and thusalso contributessignificantly to greenhouse gas
em issions.Identifying the com ponentsw ith the highestcarbon footprint
in production guidesusin ourdesign decisionsand ourrefurbishm ent
strategy.
Despite the selection ofenergy efficientcom ponentsfor
ourproducts,the use phase isstillm ostdom inantin
term sofgreenhouse gasem issions,actually due to the
long lifetim e.Pow erconsum ption in the variousm odes
contributesto globalw arm ing.Adaptyouruse patternsto
TotalLife Cycle
Copper
Cobalt
-100 0 100 200 300 400 500
Manufacturing (raw m aterials and production)
Repair / Replacem ent over lifetime (new spare parts usage)
Use
Material Recycling
Component Reuse
Totals
65,0
19,0
359,3
-11,3
-4,1
427,9
MakeMeEcoPC
kg CO2-eq.kg CO2-eq. / lifetime
0,0 5,0 10,0 15,0 20,0
MakeMeEcoPC
Benchmark
14,0
17,8
g CO2-eq. / h
Housing
12%
Display
19%
Printed
Circuit Board
Assemblies
1%
Memory
12%Processor
3%
Storage
39%
Power
Supply
5%
Battery
0%
others
9%
Carbon Footprint - Production
Power off
0,1%
Power sleep
0,4%
Power long
idle
27,8%
Power short
idle
71,7%
Carbon Footprint - Use

22. Current & proposed R&D
- SME Eco-Innovation – (deadline
June 2014)
- Waste Programme (Go Circular
Project ) (deadline June 2014)
- Factories of the
- Future Programme
- (deadline October
- 2014)

23. José Ospina
Project Manager
Jose@micropro.ie
www.iameco.com