Green Kiosks - Recycle please
I've been musing for some time now about kiosks and the ability to go Green. Last year, IBM announced that they were going to make their new IBM AnyPlace kiosks more Green and environmentally friendly. At first you think... it's a computer, how green could it be? Well, for starters they are using more recycled plastic, lower power consumption CPU's, no paints in their finishes, and processes that take less energy to produce parts. This is a good start towards green, I love it when a big corporation refines it's product and processes to be more efficient.
Another kiosk hardware vendor, Olea, has produced a kiosk enclosure out of sorghum plants. It was first shown at the NRF in Jan 2008 and again at KioskCom 2008. While not a production ready unit, it shows that it can be done. Their enclosure looked like a box made out of bamboo, but it was actually an engineered panel made from sorghum waste material. That is a great idea and our hats are off to Olea for engineering this enclosure. It shows it can be done, and gets our creative juices flowing about how to make a more environmentally friendly kiosk.
I guess when steel is required for security and durability in public spaces, we could try to use only recycled steel for our enclosures. But what about alternative material such as the laminated plant panels Olea created, is there a good green kiosk material we can use out there such as this? If you know of any good environmentally friendly materials that can be used structurally, pass on the idea. Perhaps we will build it. As I continue to muse about the topic, I wonder where I can go to learn more about green building materials? I suppose it would be the same trade shows that builders and architects attend? There must be a central place to locate these types of materials. I just have to hunt them down.
Other industries are using green materials to build their products, and I'd love to see some examples that may spark ideas for our kiosk industry. Readers, what have you seen out there? Does your company produce green materials? If so, comment below or email me your thoughts.
Another kiosk hardware vendor, Olea, has produced a kiosk enclosure out of sorghum plants. It was first shown at the NRF in Jan 2008 and again at KioskCom 2008. While not a production ready unit, it shows that it can be done. Their enclosure looked like a box made out of bamboo, but it was actually an engineered panel made from sorghum waste material. That is a great idea and our hats are off to Olea for engineering this enclosure. It shows it can be done, and gets our creative juices flowing about how to make a more environmentally friendly kiosk.I guess when steel is required for security and durability in public spaces, we could try to use only recycled steel for our enclosures. But what about alternative material such as the laminated plant panels Olea created, is there a good green kiosk material we can use out there such as this? If you know of any good environmentally friendly materials that can be used structurally, pass on the idea. Perhaps we will build it. As I continue to muse about the topic, I wonder where I can go to learn more about green building materials? I suppose it would be the same trade shows that builders and architects attend? There must be a central place to locate these types of materials. I just have to hunt them down.
Other industries are using green materials to build their products, and I'd love to see some examples that may spark ideas for our kiosk industry. Readers, what have you seen out there? Does your company produce green materials? If so, comment below or email me your thoughts.
posted by Tim @ 5:32 PM
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