Today is my first day on the floor of the 2009 Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, but certain trends are already appearing. The first is the “green” trend. Companies like Panasonic and Toshiba are announcing greener manufacturing processes, recycling programs, and an overall eye to the greening of the environment. It’s amazing that all the companies, large and small have come out with this emphasis at the same time.

I fully support greener manufacturing. But isn’t this something that the companies should have already been doing? Oh well, at least this trend is on it’s way now!

Motorola Renew

Motorola Renew

The expansion of recycling programs is also welcome, but even better is the fact that some companies are announcing fully recyclable products. One such product is a T-Mobile cell phone by Motorola that is aptly called the Motorola Renew. It is made from plastic from recycled bottles, which means that 20% less energy is needed to produce the phone. The plastic housing is 100% recyclable. It is the world’s first carbon neutral phone.

Fuji also announced a great green product. Thie EnviroMAX alkaline batters are  fully recyclable. No cadmium. No mercury. They are even packaged with recyclable materials.Fuji says that these batteries last as long or longer than the regular alkalines that are currently available.

The Fuji batteries will be available in Spring of 2009 and will be comparably priced to other alkaline batteries.

Products like these batteries are sure to take off. Who wouldn’t buy a product that is comparable or  and that is also eco-friendly? The problem arises when the green products cost more. Some of the newly announced televisions will have “green” versions that cost hundreds of dollars more than their “brown” counterparts.

Consumer Electronic specialists here at the show say that theie research shows that more than 50% of the people are willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. My own feeling is that people will rejoice in greener manufacturing and greener product components if they don’t add to the cost of the product. Given the current economic situation, i believe that most of us want to protect the environment, but when it comes to the balancing the cost with the environment, we’d rather keep the green in our pocket. Let me know what you think by posting here!