Are greener products leading to a cleaner environment?

Posted: January 28, 2011

Cars, refrigerators, computers and many other consumer products are now made to operate with increasing fuel and energy efficiency.

But are technological advances that enable electronics, vehicles and other machines to run on less energy actually resulting in less energy use?

Is the proliferation of “green” products actually translating into reductions in carbon emissions to decrease the environmentally detrimental “greenhouse effect” on the atmosphere?

The questions are explored in reports in New Scientist magazine and a popular environmental news blog that cite research findings by ASU’s Eric Williams and Liqiu Deng.

Williams is an assistant professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, one of ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, and in the School of Sustainability. Deng recently earned a master’s degree in sustainability from ASU and is continuing her studies at the university in statistics.

They recently authored an article in the Journal of Industrial Ecology that looks at the rise in green products and green manufacturing processes in relation to levels of energy use by consumers and manufacturers.