Today I am started a series of blog posts featuring the entries in this years Greener Design Contest. Sponsored by the annual Greener Design Conference, the most innovative new designs for gadgets are featured and the winners get a prize. The winners are chosen by votes entered into the contest web site. I will be featuring each of the 18 finalists in the blog over the next few weeks, one at a time. The contest ends on February 25, 2010 before I will get through the list. So if you want to vote, you will have to go to the contest website and check out the whole list. The range of ideas is large and contains some items I know I never would have thought about in an eon.

Today I start with AUG, shorthand for augmented living goods program, entered by an anonymous student. The idea is to provide shoppers choosing produce, meat, and dairy products with detailed information of the green characteristics of the stuff in front of them. I'll let the designer tell the story.

The technology seems quite straight forward. All the components are already more or less in place. The system would benefit everyone involved--the customer, the vendor, and the producers. And ultimately the environment will get the best deal possible, but not neccessarily a good deal for Mother Nature. Even the most organically raised piece of beef leaves its imprint on the environment.

The performance eventually rests on the availabilty of accurate and meaningful data, and that's where my questions rest. All systems that aim to provide information for assessing the environmental and other characteristics of any good or service have to combine information from many categories, and that process always involves a value judgment. Until Mother nature chimes in with her own values, we will always be guessing what really is "greener."

Email this page Login or register to post comments

(2comments)

Print