Sustainability is a big thing for Russell, many electronic components can be re-used with confidence, particularly when re-purposed for custom designed equipment.
Sustainability is not just about NOT burying waste material back into the earth but recognising the energy expended to create the item in the first place, referred to as embodied energy, and wherever possible, reusing that item.
To give an approximate representation of how much energy was used in the WHOLE production process of an item, Russell has estimated what he calls an Ee (Embodied Energy) value, measured in Mj
The Ee value is an approximation only and usually measured in Mj.
Coming up with an Ee value is an attempt to take into account the energy used for extracting and processing of the raw materials, manufacturing of the component, distribution of the component(s) and final assembly of the component. In fact the measurement of Ee can become extremely detailed and technical, many tertiary institutions are involved in this field of science.
There are many institutions and academia who have far greater knowledge about this subject, see the link below to start looking around online and raising your awareness.
The information Russell is providing has the sole purpose of raising awareness that ALL components in electronics have an Ee value, this Ee value Russell is indicating on some of his products is a GUIDE ONLY.
The main point here is to recognise that the amount of embedded energy varies between raw materials and the awareness of the Ee value can promote the convervation of products instead of burying the item in the ground and the associated risks of poisoning our environment.
There are many many websites providing information about Embodied energy, HERE is just one and I have used a couple of their graphs to illustrate just how much embodied energy various materials use.
Now those estimated 'approximations' of embodied energy on some of my advertisement pages may look meaningless, for example what does 12.5Mj really mean?
Remember this is embodied energy, an estimate of the TOTAL energy consumed in the obtaining raw materials, processing, assembly etc to eventually end up with the item being offered.
A typical mobile phone uses around 29Kj to charge a "standard" battery
By comparison, one of my standard 12" record albums has an Ee of 12.Mj - in other words, the energy used to produce that record you may be holding in your hand is 400+ greater than charging your mobile!
What's worse, we then bury the records in the ground! Such terrible waste and not to mention to leeching of plastics into the surrounding earth. We can do better than that ...
