Do you love your consumer electronics, things like hand-held PDAs, laptop computers, GPS navigation systems for cars and so on? I know I do, but sometimes I feel guilty about buying them because I'm worried about the size of my carbon footprint. You can laugh about it if you want, but I'm serious about that. I wonder how much waste and pollution are generated when my computer or cell phone or other consumer electronics are are manufactured. But what makes me feel better is knowing that consumer electronics manufacturers like Hewlett-Packard are increasingly looking to green technologies, such as H-P using the plastic from old water bottles to make the out shells of their ink-jet printer cartridges. H-P actually used five million pounds of recycled plastic in its consumer electronics this year and plans to double that amount next year. And while H-P's actions are commendable, they're hardly alone in what they're doing. Other makers of consumer electronics are increasingly going green in how they generate energy and in how they make their consumer electronics products.
