1.03.2008 - 08:00am ET

(CSRwire) NEW YORK, NY - January 3, 2008 - Industry leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists and product designers will gather in New York City on February 1st, 2008 to discuss the business case for greening the consumer electronics industry. The one-day Greener Gadgets conference will take place at the McGraw-Hill Conference Center in midtown Manhattan.

The consumer electronics industry has begun to address key environmental challenges in the past several years, from reducing toxic materials, to improving energy efficiency of devices, to increasing recycling efforts. Consumers have recently started to express interest in choosing greener gadgets, and retailers have launched scorecards to measure the environmental impact of electronics products they sell. As climate change and toxicity issues continue to dominate the public conversation, electronics industry leaders are innovating their way to a greener future.

The agenda of the Greener Gadgets Conference is to uncover green design and technology innovations that will open new business opportunities and shape the future of the consumer electronics industry.

Conference chairs Jill Fehrenbacher of Inhabitat and Marc Alt of Marc Alt + Partners have put together a top-notch, dynamic program of consumer electronics industry leaders, innovators, artists, and environmental experts. Participating companies and exhibitors include Nokia, HP, Sony, Intel, Philips, One Laptop Per Child.

Fehrenbacher says: "We'll have speakers who will share cutting edge thinking for how the electronics industry will reduce its environmental impact."

Speakers will address new technology, innovation, design challenges, material concerns, and energy issues involved in bringing greener consumer choices to market. "Sustainability and green initiatives are no longer on the margins of business strategy, " added Alt. "We are excited that companies of the scale of Nokia and HP are focusing their attention on responsible recycling and take-back of their products, and that an increased attention to life-cycle and supply chain issues are coming to the forefront of design and engineering of consumer electronics."

Via keynotes, panel discussions, and a green prototype office display, the Greener Gadgets Conference will spark inspiration, education, and knowledge exchange. Attendees will have an opportunity to discuss the latest environmental trends with representatives from sponsors and exhibitors.

Speakers include:

Mary Lou Jepsen
Chief Technology Officer, One Laptop Per Child Project

Natalie Jeremijenko
Inventor, Engineer & Technoartist, Director of the xDesign Environmental Health Clinic at NYU

Chris Jordan
Digital Artist, Environmental Advocate

Plus key senior executives from Nokia, HP, Sony, Intel Corp, Philips Electronics North America and many others.

A full speaker roster can be viewed at the conference website: http://www.greenergadgets.com.

GREEN TECHNOLOGY DISPLAY

An adjoining gallery space to the conference will feature a green prototype office developed by leading materials consulting firm Material ConneXion and featuring HP technology. Cell phone leader Nokia will be on hand to display their latest phone the Evolve which is manufactured in part with renewable bio-plastics and which features reduced energy consumption in recharging. Representatives from small startups will be exhibiting examples of their products that incorporate renewable energy including solar, wind power and kinetic energy.

DESIGN COMPETITION

As part of the initiative, Greener Gadgets has partnered with Industrial Design website Core77 to create the Greener Gadgets Design Competition, seeking out design innovations for greener electronics. This design competition will engage established design firms, emerging designers, and design students to come up with new and innovative solutions to address the issues of energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, new materials, product lifecycle, and social development. The top entries will be showcased live at the Greener Gadgets Conference for judging by a panel and the audience, and awards will be given out at the end of the night.

Generous exhibitors and sponsors for the event include: HP, Nokia and BusinessWeek.

Learn more about the Greener Gadgets Conference by visiting:

http://www.greenergadgets.com

For information about exhibiting or sponsoring the Greener Gadgets
Conference, please contact:

Marc Alt
Co-Chair, Greener Gadgets Conference
(917) 621-6501
(917) 207-5387
marc@marcalt.com.

Press inquiries:

info@greenergadgets.com.

About Inhabitat

Inhabitat is an online magazine devoted to the future of design,
tracking the innovations in technology, practices and materials that
are pushing architecture and home design towards a smarter and more
sustainable future. We believe that good design and green design are
one in the same. www.inhabitat.com

About Marc Alt + Partners

Marc Alt + Partners is a design, research and brand strategy agency dedicated to sustainable innovation. Marc Alt speaks frequently to a wide variety of audiences and companies about green design, sustainablility and creating value by aligning corporate strategy with environmental and social benefit. www.marcalt.com