●
Benefits proposed to companies that implement existing greener measures
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Tighter regulation on reporting where materials come from
●
Implementing federal programs that kick benefits towards companies that use recycled
materials
●
Regulating marketing from large corporations
●
Banning of proportionally toxic components and non-recyclable components
●
Potential redesigns: sourcing recycled materials, biodegradable materials
,
natural and
synthetic nonwoven materials, etc. (
Sustainability | Free Full-Text | Sustainable Solutions
for Wearable Technologies: Mapping the Product Development Life Cycle (mdpi.com)
)
●
explicitly state that collecting and selling of data is being done, and get user agreement
Step 2) Review the assignment description and rubric for the Tech Project Redesign
Presentation. Discuss how your technology might be redesigned for greater inclusivity. How
would you define inclusion? Are there certain segments of society that are restricted from
using your technology based on ability, class, gender, etc.?
The largest barrier to accessing our technology is cost, but within usage, the wearable
technology has to be interfaced with using digits on a very small screen. I came across a lot of
articles toting the potential monitoring benefits of smartwatches for cardiovascular health
intervention, but at-risk elderly populations often don't have a background in tech and may
have dexterity/vision issues that make navigating something like a smartwatch difficult. Too, this
proposed use of smart watches for health intervention is not covered by insurance. Additionally,
the wearability of this tech requires wrists of a size to work – the monitoring tech cannot work
without a pulse point of a wrist. Smaller bands exist, but the use is moot if the user does not
have a second wrist.
Step 3) Discuss the ethical associations with your technology. Are there any guidelines that
might make your technology more ethical in consideration of raw resource acquisition, energy
expenditure (i.e. what is the carbon footprint of your technology?) or even government policy
to regulate your technology for fairer use?
●
Analysis of where in manufacturing process has the greatest carbon footprint:
○
Based on Xiomi smartwatch: 99.1% comes from assembly, and 84% stems from
PCB manufacturing (creating the circuit board).
○
Metal & Fossil depletion: USB cable and PCB body made from various metals
○
(
Environmental impact analysis of smartwatch using SimaPro8 tools and energy
dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) technique | IEEE Conference Publication |
IEEE Xplore
)
●
Environmental Certifications like EPEAT and ENERGY STAR
