As you may recall from the opening press conference, this year’s COMPUTEX computer expo is comprised of four main themes. They’re focusing on WiMAX mobile broadband technology, information communications technology crossover products, new compact notebook PCs, and green IT. This last point is of particular interest, given the world’s rising concern over escalating fuel prices and the effects of global warming. Even though companies have to pay attention to their bottom line, it is becoming increasingly important to be mindful of their impact on the environment as well. We need to go green.
Most manufacturers are trying to do something that is a little more “green”, but how can a major trade show like COMPUTEX minimize its carbon footprint and be a little nicer to Mother Nature? We here at Futurelooks have come up with five key elements that could help move the computer expo a little closer to the green side.
Single Exhibition Centre
For COMPUTEX Taipei 2008, the organizers decided to expand the trade show across two different exhibition centres. They are located about 15 to 20 minutes apart from one another via cab, so what this means is that everyone in attendance will need to commute between the two locations to see everything. This not only adds to the already congested streets of Taipei, but you can imagine how much extra pollution is caused by the shuttle buses and taxis involved.
The new Nangang Exhibition Hall is easily the better of the two locations and I’d say that it would be big enough to house the vast majority of the exhibitors. There were plenty of meeting rooms and such that were being underutilized. The alternative would be to limit the number of exhibitors or to limit the size of their booths. I realize that this would go against the whole thing about how COMPUTEX is the world’s second largest computer expo, but they need to be more efficient.
The best configuration would be if there were enough hotels in the immediate vicinity of the Nangang Exhibition Hall for the majority of the international buyers and press in attendance. This way, they could walk to COMPUTEX each morning instead of having to hop on the bus or in a cab.
Digital Press Kits Only
I was surprised by how few companies offered a digital press kit at COMPUTEX. Instead, the vast majority were still using the usual printed kits, meaning that a whole lot of trees were killed in the process of producing all those pieces of paper. Even from a usability standpoint, digital press kits are easier for media to handle than all these sheets of paper.
There are a few ways that they can go about doing this. Some companies distribute their press kits through a USB flash drive. This is good, because the drive can be reused after the press kit has been explored. Perhaps the even greener alternative would be to use no physical media at all. No flash drives, no CD-Rs. Instead, all press can be given a card — possibly equipped with RFID technology — that they can tap at each of the booths. The contact information is given to the exhibitor and a press kit is automatically emailed to the media member. Better still, all the press kits can be uploaded to a common resource area online. Press can just download at will.
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Green Transportation Options
Even if COMPUTEX was restricted to a single exhibition centre, there’s a good chance that some transportation would still be required. People need to get to their hotels from the airport and there could be private meetings set up all around town.
While Taipei does seem to be equipped with a good MRT system, it is largely unused by COMPUTEX attendees because it’s just not as convenient as hopping into a (very inexpensive) taxi that will go directly to your next destination. I’m not exactly sure what sort of solution can be made, but if the MRT stations were more conveniently located to the official COMPUTEX Hotels where all the attendees were, people may be more inclined to take this “green” option instead. At the closing press conference, Walter Yeh, TAITRA’s head honcho did mention that they are pushing to have the MRT station built at Nangang as quickly as possible, possibly for 2009 completion, but more likely, 2010.
Efficient Lighting and Electricity Use
Being a technology trade show, COMPUTEX consumes a lot of electricity over the length of its five days. You’ve got bright lighting for the entire trade show floor and most of the products on display are fully powered up the entire time.
This excessive use of electricity can’t possibly be good for the environment. The infrastructure costs may be pretty heavy, but it would be interesting to see if they could outfit the main exhibition halls with “green” power solutions, like wind, solar, and hydro power.
To be more efficient with the power as it is, it can be mandated that all booths must completely power down when the show wraps up each day. This way, the products on display are not powered up and consuming electricity. As you know, a lot of tech has a “standby” mode that still uses power, so having a master cutoff for the hall might be a good idea.
Ban the Bags
Many of the booths on the COMPUTEX trade show floor give away free tote bags, most of which are actually empty. The vast majority of these bags end up in the trash before the international visitors end up on their respective flights back home, so the bags serve very little purpose.
In line with the suggestion about all digital press kits, it really is not necessary to give out these bags. By and large, the bags are used to carry the printed press kits and other pieces of information. Yes, I know that we like collecting swag, but most people can carry around a sling bag or a backpack for that purpose rather than collecting far too many one-use bags.
The amount of trash can be drastically reduced by elminating all this extra packaging. T-shirts don’t need to be individually packaged, promotional pens don’t need individual sleeves, and branded bags are not at all necessary.
Just the Beginning
These five suggestions can help to point trade shows like COMPUTEX in a much greener direction, but ultimately the greenest solution would be to hold virtual appointments in virtual conference rooms. This way, international travel is minimized. The trouble is that we wouldn’t be able to get as much hands-on time. It will be interesting to see what shows like CeBIT and CES do to minimize their impact on the environment. Going green is something that should definitely be on their respective priority lists.
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