Green Electronics Project
Principal Investigators
Oladele A. Ogunseitan
Jean-Daniel M. Saphores
Julie M. Schoenung
Andrew A. Shapiro
Sponsor: National Science Foundation
Biocomplexity in the Environment: Materials Use, Science, Engineering and Society
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NSF MUSES 0524903
Engineering Environmentally-Benign Electronics: Convergent Optimization of Materials Use,
Consumer Participation, and Government Regulation.
Abstract
The objective of this BE/MUSES project is to develop a well-integrated model that
addresses consumer, policy, industrial, and environmental issues associated with
electronic waste management, with specific concern for products such as cell phones. This
research project will take the comprehensive approach of integrating selective material use
with societal constraints that include consumer behavior and government policy
considerations necessary to achieve the goal of sustainable e-waste management.
The broader impacts of this project are significant, given that in this electronic age people
depend on several electronic devices to cope with the pace of modern society, households
own multiple cell phones, computers, cameras, video game players, portable music
recorders, calculators, and personal digital assistants. These electronic products can
contain many hazardous materials such as toxic metals and brominated flame-retardants
that may ultimately impair the environment and human health. Society faces growing
problems with electronic waste (e-waste). Designing strategies to manage e-waste has
proven to be an extremely complex and multifaceted challenge. The effectiveness of topdown policies such as those in the EU and Japan is questionable because environmental
laws have at best a regional influence whereas electronic product markets are global. This
project takes a comprehensive bottom-up approach where the multidisciplinary research
team of engineers, material scientists, environmental health and policy scientists,
economists, and student trainees will develop quantitative modeling tools needed to guide
the development of environmentally-benign electronic products. Using the cell phone as an
example, our research focuses on optimizing the convergence of three factors (1)
Identification of cost-effective non-hazardous material components that do not
compromise product reliability (2) Assessment of consumer preferences for recycling and
willingness to pay for environmentally-benign electronics, and (3) Comparative analysis of
effective regulatory policies that transcend state and national boundaries regarding
materials use in electronic product engineering and e-waste management. A new
collaboration between the university and the local science museum, Explorit, will focus on
creating programs for K-12 students that demonstrate how the games, cell phones and
other consumer electronics currently impact the waste-stream and will engage students in
creating sustainable e-waste projects.
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Recent Publications
Lincoln, J.D., A.A. Shapiro, J.C. Earthman, J.-D. Saphores, and O.A. Ogunseitan. 2008. Design
and Evaluation of Bioepoxy-flax Composites for Printed Circuit Boards. IEEE Transactions
on Electronics Packaging Manufacturing. 31 (3): 211 - 220.
Nixon, H. N., J-D. M. Saphores, O.A. Ogunseitan, and A.A. Shapiro. 2008. Understanding
preferences in recycling electronic waste in California: A contingent ranking study.
Environment and Behavior. 41 (1): 101 - 124.
Lincoln, J.D., O.A. Ogunseitan, J.-D. Saphores, and A.A. Shapiro. 2007. Leaching Assessments
of Hazardous Materials in Cellular Telephones. Environmental Science & Technology, 41 (7),
2572 -2578.
Ogunseitan, O.A. 2007. Public Health and Environmental Benefits of Adopting Lead-Free
Solders. JOM: Journal of Minerals, Metals Materials. 59(7): 12 – 17.
Jean-Daniel M. Saphores, Hilary Nixon, Oladele A. Ogunseitan, & Andrew A. Shapiro. 2007.
California Households’ Willingness to Pay for “Green” Electronics. Journal of Environmental
Planning and Management. 50:113-133.
Hai-Yong Kang, Oladele Ogunseitan, Andrew A. Shapiro, and Julie M. Schoenung. 2007. A
Comparative Hierarchical Decision Framework on Toxics Use Reduction Effectiveness for
Electronic and Electrical Industries. Environmental Science & Technology. 41:373-379.
Saphores, J-D., H. Nixon, O.A. Ogunseitan, and A.A. Shapiro. 2006. Household willingness to
recycle electronic waste: An application to California. Environment and Behavior. 38:183208.
Shapiro, A.A., J.K. Bonner, O.A. Ogunseitan, J.-D. Saphores, and J.M. Schoenung. 2006.
Implications of Pb-free microelectronics assembly in aerospace applications. IEEE
Transactions Components and Packaging Technologies 29 (1):60-70.
Schoenung, J.M., O.A. Ogunseitan, J.-M. Saphores, and A.A. Shapiro. 2005. Adopting lead-free
electronics: Knowledge gaps and policy differences. Journal of Industrial Ecology 8 (4):5985.
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