Tag Archive
Sustainable design in the electronics industry
Awareness of "sustainability" has mushroomed in recent years, due to anxieties over energy security and global warming. One significant driver of our energy appetite is the rapid growth of the electronics industry -- worldwide energy demand for household electronics is projected to triple over the next 20 years. »
EPA unveils tougher requirements for Energy Star TVs
Starting May 1, 2010, TVs that carry the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star label are, on average, 40 percent more efficient than conventional models. »
LG products to undergo energy-efficiency testing to ensure compliance
LG Electronics has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with three of the world's top certification organizations to promote reliable methods for testing the energy efficiency of consumer electronics and home appliance products. »
EPA, DOE strengthen Energy Star testing, enforcement
Manufacturers of Energy Star qualified products better start doing a better job of ensuring their compliance to these energy-efficiency standards. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have released a new set of actions designed to strengthen the Energy Star program. This includes a new two-step process to... »
PI power conversion IC maximizes power efficiency across the entire load range
Power Integrations launches the highly integrated TOPSwitch-JX family of 16 power conversion ICs that incorporate a 725-V power MOSFET for use in flyback power supplies. »
Fairchild CCM PFC controller minimizes power losses, cuts 54 external components
Fairchild Semi offers a CCM PFC controller aimed at helping power electronic design teams push efficiency towards 100 percent to meet ENERGY STAR regulations and to reduce their carbon footprint. The FAN6982 delivers high system efficiency, high power factor and low total harmonic distortion (THD) to minimize power losses in multi-stage power supplies. »
Samsung mass produces 4-Gbit DDR3 DRAM
Samsung has started volume production of the industry's first low-power 4-Gbit DDR3 devices using 40-nm process technology. The high-density memory is expected to deliver significant power savings to data centers, server systems and high-end notebooks. »
DOE issues energy-efficiency metrics for data centers
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), together with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and industry leaders, have agreed on energy-efficiency measurements, metrics, and reporting guidelines for data-center facilities. »
Electronics companies, retailers to simplify ‘green’ electronics purchasing for consumers
The Sustainability Consortium, along with leading electronics companies and retailers, plans to establish a system to help consumers identify "green" electronics. Partners include Dell, HP, Intel, Toshiba, Best Buy and Walmart. Initial results will be available in the third quarter of 2010. »
PWM controllers improve efficiency at light loads
Fairchild Semi offers a portfolio of pulse-width modulated (PWM) controllers, which enable notebook power-supply designers to meet international energy-saving regulations. »
Touch user interfaces have made significant advances in the consumer electronics market particularly for mobile phones and notebook computers, opening the door for adoption in other applications including white goods, computer peripherals, medical equipment, and instrumentation. Synaptics made its debut in the home appliance market earlier this year with the launch of the Samsung Hauzen ZERO air conditioner.
Smaller distributors were the only ones to post sales gains in 2009. Interestingly, two of the five distributors that posted growth last year -- Interstate Connecting Components and Sherburn Electronics -- derive 100 percent of their sales from interconnect products. Both of them also target the military/aerospace industry. Here are the top 10 sales leaders by ICs, passives/electromechanical devices, interconnects and computer products as well as sales growth.

NXP offers a low-power IC aimed at MPPT applications using PV cells or fuel cells.
C&K Components offers a series of low-cost, miniature slide switches. The OS Series of RoHS-compliant switches feature a new high-temperature option for lead-free soldering.