Suissa.ca

So-called “Circuits in Plastic” (CIP) technology is making your nasty unrecyclable circuit board a thing of the past.  Professor David Thiel and MadhusudanRao Neeli at the faculty of engineering and information technology at Griffith University in Brisbane are set to shake up the computer and electronics industries by discovering a way to make circuits out of plastic.

“The circuit board is a plastic sheet in which all components are placed in divots,” Thiel said. “The conductor is screen-printed into a thin cover sheet which is then thermally bonded to the circuit board.”

I for one am looking forward to this product being widely available in manufacture.  I figure once they get the manufacturing to a point where circuits of a reasonable size can be created, portable electronics will be the first to really benefit from this.  Just imagine not having to buy a new cell phone every time you dumpy our in the toilet, or digital watches which are truly water proof, or cameras that you can actually use underwater.  I think this type of technology has implications far beyond just simple circuit boards.  I can see it used to wire cars or other transportation where short circuits would be a thing of the past.

CIP aim to be more environmentally friendly than traditional circuits as they can be made from recycled plastic, don’t contain any hazardous substances, and since packaging is part of the base circuit board there is no need additional packaging material.

How cool will this be used in actually packaging with e-ink paper… The package could be more fun than the product it holds.

Looks like the old incadescent bulb is getting a face lift, or a new heart as the case may be.  I didn’t think it would be long before CF bulbs and their slim margins took a back seat to the old tried, tested, loved and big margin incandescent bulbs.

The NY Times’ Green Inc. blog says the inner capsule of these new bulbs, developed by California-based Deposition Sciences, is coated with a material that is able to reflect the heat back onto the filament, part of which is converted back into light. This technology, currently featured in Philips Halogena Energy Savers line, has resulted in the bulb using 30% less power and lasting 3x longer than normal incandescents.

CF bulbs are still about 2.5x more efficient than these new incandescent bulbs. But these new bulbs will get more efficient with time, don’t take forever to warm up to full brightness, don’t make your home feel like a lab or mental institution and don’t contain mercury.

once the tech is sorted out and mas production starts, these bulbs could go for the same costs as old style incandescents.  I for one will gladly pay $5 for a bulb like this just to stay away from the mercury and horrible headache inducing light a CF gives off.

If you want to get a few of these, they can be purchased through Amazon here.  More information about the Philips Halogena Energy Savers line of bulbs can be found here.