Technological Innovations to Drive Sustainability Growth, says CTA Report

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has announced publication of its 2017 Sustainability Report. The biennial report outlines the efforts by the consumer technology industry to reduce waste, establish greener operations and create highly energy-efficient products. The innovations in the technology industry will result in creation of a more sustainable future world, the report says. Incidentally, the US consumer technology industry is worth around $321 billion and supports more than 15 million jobs.

According to the report, the voluntary set-top box energy-efficiency initiative has led to reduction in emission of at least 12 million metric tons of carbon. As per estimates, CTA member companies have spent approximately $1 billion on recycling, which is significantly higher than any other industry with a consumer-facing product. The eCycling Leadership initiative alone has resulted in recycling of around 4 billion pounds of electronics from 2009 to 2016. A total of 630 million pounds of electronics were recycled in 2016 alone. The US is said to have nearly 8,000 certified responsible recycling locations.

Although the number of electronic devices at homes has increased sharply by 20%, the energy consumption by home devices has registered considerably by nearly 25% since 2010. Furthermore, home automation technology is expected to cut home energy consumption by 10%. According to figures, the ENERGY STAR program is believed to have resulted in 2.5 billion tons of GHG reductions between 1192 and 2014.

CTA’s member companies have announced various initiatives to minimize water consumption. The high-efficiency water fixtures and landscaping in Apple’s new corporate headquarters is expected to result in savings of nearly 4.3 billion gallons of water per year. Dell has already declared its goal to reduce water consumption in select regions by 20%. Other companies to establish notable water saving initiatives include Facebook, Toshiba and Canon.

Ten of CTA member companies- Adobe, Apple, Autodesk, eBay, Facebook, Google, HP, Microsoft, Phillips and Ricoh have already committed to transitioning to 100% renewable energy. For instance, Intel has the nation’s largest corporate solar-covered parking lot and the largest micro wind turbine array. Also, HP which currently purchases or generates 105 million kWh of renewable energy across its global sites is currently implementing a plan to become 40% renewable-powered by 2020.

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