BERLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Green Electronics Council (GEC) announced at IFA 2016 today that AMD (NASDAQ: AMD), a leading designer of compute and graphics processors, and PuzzlePhone, a designer of modular mobile phones, won its 2016 Catalyst Awards. GEC’s Catalyst Awards seek to inspire innovation in the design, manufacture and use of electronics to advance global sustainability. GEC’s “Catalyzing Impact at Scale” Award recognizes the large-scale impact leading corporations can have when changing the design, manufacture and intended use of their products. GEC’s “Catalyzing Disruptive Innovation” Award recognizes cutting-edge technologies that raise sustainability to a whole new level.
AMD won the Catalyzing Impact at Scale Award for its 25x20 energy efficiency initiative, which aims to improve the energy efficiency of AMD mobile products 25 times by 2020 from a 2014 baseline. AMD is ahead of schedule to meet this goal as evidenced by a recent product for the mobile PC market. PuzzlePhone won the Catalyzing Disruptive Innovation Award for a modular mobile phone design that expands the lifespan of phones and thereby significantly reduces mobile phone-related e-waste.
“To achieve a world filled with only sustainable electronics, we need to change the behavior of leading companies and continue to seek out and support innovative start-ups,” said Nancy Gillis, CEO of the Green Electronics Council. “We congratulate AMD and PuzzlePhone for leading in these efforts and being the 2016 GEC Catalyst Award winners.”
AMD’s award-winning initiative accelerates the sustainability of its Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), which are used in personal computers, digital signage, medical imaging systems and more. The AMD 6th Generation A-Series Accelerated Processing Unit (code-named “Carrizo”) delivered a 2.7 times improvement in energy efficiency, and achieved an approximate 46-percent reduction in lifecycle carbon emissions compared to its predecessor. 1,2
“We’re honored to receive the 2016 GEC Catalyst Award, recognizing our work to improve the energy efficiency of our products,” said Tim Mohin, Senior Director of Corporate Responsibility for AMD. “AMD has focused on energy efficiency for years, and this focus is more important than ever given the explosion of computing devices and the very real threat of climate change. We continue to achieve leaps in energy efficiency by focusing on numerous design enhancements, improved transistor density, and other optimizations that result in power and performance improvements. Our ambitious goal is to improve this performance metric by 25 times during the timeframe from 2014 to 2020.”
PuzzlePhone won the Catalyzing Disruptive Innovation Award for its modular approach to smartphone design. Its three-module smartphone empowers end users to simply change or upgrade a module rather than replace the entire device when a part becomes inoperative or obsolete. The modules are also designed for reuse in other applications after their life as a smartphone component, expanding their lifespan and reducing the amount of e-waste.
“By applying the principles of Human-Centered Design and EcoDesign, PuzzlePhone enables the full cycle of the Circular Economy: durability, easy maintenance and design for recapture through existing recycling systems and rapid disassembly,” said Alejandro Santacreu, Founder and CEO of Circular Devices Oy/PuzzlePhone. “Caring both about our planet and our customers, we have developed a supply-chain proof solution that brings value to all stakeholders by solving their most critical pain points. PuzzlePhone empowers all of us to choose a better way, a better future.”
A panel of expert judges selected AMD and PuzzlePhone from among seven Catalyst Awards Finalists. The other five Catalyst Award Finalists were: U.S. Department of Energy, iFixIt, Samsung, WorldLoop and Xerox.
The 2016 Catalyst Awards judging panel included Carlos Alvarenga, Executive Director of World 50 ThinkLabs; Bill Berlinger, Head of Corporate Technology Licensing for Caterpillar, Inc.; Richard Crespin, CEO of CollaborateUp; Steve Leeds, Principal of Sustainability Consultants, LLC; and Kai Rohwerder, Ernst & Young’s Procurement Consulting Lead for Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
GEC announced the Catalyst Award winners during IFA 2016. The awards dinner will be held at the Electronics Goes Green conference, hosted by the Fraunhofer Institute, from 7-9 September.
In 2015, the inaugural year of GEC’s Catalyst Awards, Dell, Inc. won for closing its manufacturing loop and using 100% post-consumer recycled plastic for certain components.
The Green Electronics Council is a non-profit that works with stakeholders around the world to develop a shared vision for more sustainable electronics and the practical tools to realize it. Founded to inspire and catalyze environmental leadership throughout the lifecycle of electronic technologies, GEC manages EPEAT, the definitive global rating system for sustainable electronics, and provides thought leadership on the on the use of technology to advance sustainability. These activities work to promote a world in which there are only sustainable electronics.
1 http://www.amd.com/en-gb/innovations/software-technologies/25x20 - see footnote #4
