SAN FRANCISCO — An Alert from Design Chain Associates: European Chemicals Agency proposes 13 new candidate SVHCs The European Chemicals Agency issued a press release stating that a 45-day consultation period began yesterday (February 28) for selection of the next set of candidate substances of very high concern (SVHCs). The list of substances is within…
One week ago, I had the delightful opportunity to interview Michael Kirschner, president of Design Chain Associates (DCA). His company, which was founded 11 years ago, focuses on helping companies around the world comply with environmental regulations like RoHS and REACH. After talking with Michael for an hour and 20 minutes, I realized I had…
It's the time of year when most people are evaluating recent trends and planning expectations for the coming quarters. It makes sense that we take a quick look, too, at the events unfolding in the broad, but increasingly popular, cleantech segment, which encompasses everything from smart meters and electricity grids to renewable energy and electric…
Much of the buzz coming out of this week's Consumer Electronics Show is about televisions: how to capitalize on Internet TV; how to better manage TV content; and even how to talk to your TV. In terms of manufacturing, the most recent TV revolution was LCD — the display technology first used in phones and…
BERNIN, France — Soitec (Euronext), a world leader in generating and manufacturing revolutionary semiconductor materials for the electronics and energy industries, has purchased a manufacturing facility in Rancho Bernardo, Calif., within San Diego City limits, and will soon begin fitting the factory to produce its concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) modules for the U.S. renewable-energy market. The…
I pride myself on keeping pretty up to date on RoHS. Any journalist who has been in the electronics trade for a while has been writing about the EU's Restriction on Hazardous Substances for more than a decade. However, as with many directives that become laws, some changes have been made to RoHS. The consulting…
It's clear that the smart grid still has some challenges to overcome in developed regions such as the US. Securing the grid is becoming a growing concern, and the great number of legacy agencies already involved in the US grid makes a single solution unlikely, at least in the near-term. (See: Securing the Smart Grid.)…
As I read up on Germany's plan to move towards a no-nuke energy policy last week, I stumbled onto a stack of other interesting factoids that are worth sharing here and putting into broader context. (See: Germany’s Nuclear Power Predicament.) While Germany has been vocal in wanting to shut down its 17 nuclear power plants…
Everyone is moving to the cloud, leaving giant imprints on networks globally and potentially creating an environmental mess that may be hard to clean up, according to a recent report from {complink 1131|Cisco Systems Inc.} Internet and most other data traffic is fast migrating to the cloud, and some industry observers are saying mobile IT…
Normally, the last thing I'd advocate is another government agency. But in the case of the smart grid, it might not be a bad idea. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently concluded that the mishmash of agencies overseeing the security of the smart grid is ill equipped to handle a cyberattack. According to a Reuters…