setts, which is one of the states that is actively moving toward requiring that local computer manufacturers take back their products at the end of their life spans. The EU passed a law requiring such computer “takeback” in 2003. Consumer demand is also a factor, says Jerry Velasquez of the UNU Global Environment Information Centre. In Japan, studies show that 30.8% of consumers consider the environment when they purchase computers, he says. However, Williams is dubious that market forces alone can address the complex issues associated with the environmental impacts of computing. “As this issue is more complex and international than many environmental challenges we’ve faced, I think we need to think beyond a domestically focused command-and-control regulation model,” he says. —KELLYN BETTS
National Academy of Engineering taps Rittmann Bruce E. Rittmann, the John Evans Professor of Civil Engineering at Northwestern University and a member of ES&T’s Editorial Advisory Board, was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Engineering (NAE) in October. Rittmann was elected for “pioneering the development of biofilm fundamentals and contributing to their widespread use in the cleanup of contaminated waters, soils, and ecosystems.” “When I practice environmental biotechnology, I use communities of microorganisms to help human society interact positively with the environment,” Rittmann says. “The microbial communities are able to recover valuable resources from materials society otherwise views as wastes. The valuable resources can include the water itself, energy, or minerals. Environmental biotechnology will be essential as society
becomes more sustainable in the future.” Rittmann was the first recipient of the Athalie Richardson Irvine Clarke Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Water Science and Technology from the National Water Research Institute. He has published more than 300 books, chapters, and journal papers, and the Institute for Scientific Information lists him as a highly cited author. He co-wrote Environmental Biotechnology: Principles and Applications, a 2001 textbook that has been translated into Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. The NAE honors engineers who have made “important contributions to engineering theory and practice, including significant contributions to the literature” and researchers who have played key roles in expanding engineering’s purview. —KELLYN BETTS
News Briefs Using every drop The global need to find extra water for irrigation could drop to zero if farmers as well as business and government leaders take steps to improve water productivity by 40% over the next 25 years, according to a discussion paper released at World Water Week in Stockholm (Sweden). The paper marks the halfway point of work done by the Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture, an international scientific research program focused on questions related to water, agriculture, poverty, and environmental conservation. The assessment won’t be completed until 2006, but better tillage methods, drought-resistant seeds, and water harvesting schemes could help most farmers who depend on rain-fed agriculture, the researchers write. Investing in Water for Food, Ecosystems and Livelihoods is available at www. iwmi.org/assessment.
Eliminate oil by 2050? The United States can end all fossilfuel oil use by mid-century with forprofit initiatives, says a report cofunded by the U.S. Pentagon and released by the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit research and consulting organization. Amory Lovins, RMI’s CEO, says, “Our recommendations are market-based, innovationdriven without [government] mandates, and designed to support, not distort, business logic.” Cars and light trucks can be made from ultralight, safe materials that significantly improve fuel efficiency, says the report. The projected net savings of $70 million per year mean that taking steps to displace fossil-fuel oil would cost less than buying it. Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security is available at www.rmi.org.
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circuit boards or cadmium or mercury in their batteries. Fujitsu has been taking back computers since 1988 and prides itself on its environmentally conscious product design and development, says Harald Podratzky of Fujitsu-Siemens. But the tradeoffs are complex, stresses Steve Harper of Intel Corp., one of the world’s largest manufacturers of computer chips. Harper contends that lead used for soldering electronics products constitutes 0.5% of all the lead in the United States. And the U.S. EPA’s Design for the Environment program recently concluded that the environmental impacts of a new solder alloy that contains tin, silver, and copper would be worse than those of lead, he says. The situation is further complicated by insufficient appreciation of how to design products for disassembly on the part of computer manufacturers, says Joseph Sarkins of Clark University in Massachu-
