The Other Side of Green
By Joel Rollins, CTS-R Well, I had a great round of emails with a number of you after last month’s issue. Several of you brought up some of our industry’s challenges, and I’d like us to address one of them together today.
We talk a lot about the necessity of our industry to go “green.” But we talk about it mostly in terms of energy consumption, and its effect on climate change. It’s the part of “green” that our clients seem most focused on right now, and the one to which we are responding with spec sheets and wattage figures. Manufacturers in our industry have made huge leaps in power efficiency, and we have the equipment stickers to prove it.
That may be as “green” as the equipment sales end of the business needs to get, since at the end they don’t have the equipment, the client does – and there will usually be several years before the other half of “green” rears its ugly head.
But Ralph Miner of Sound Vision Audio Visual brought up the other half of being environmentally conscious, and one which we in the rental and staging end of the business need to deal with better before clients, especially regular government and corporate clients, begin to ask.
Since WE are the holders and end users of the equipment, how do we dispose of it?
Our equipment, especially that which is a few years old, is LOADED with toxic chemicals. And used electronics are becoming the “hot potato” of the business.
For many years, there was a GREAT way to get rid of it, and it was one of the key things that made the rental business the most profitable (percentage-wise) part of audiovisual. We SOLD it. I can remember the days when four-year-old fully-depreciated equipment could sell for real money… meaning that every piece added nicely to our profit margin when we got rid of it. In fact, the unit’s eventual sale was something we planned for, and even budgeted for.
I spent several years as a photographer, briefly professionally, and then the rest of my life (so far) as an avid hobbyist. In the days when I was using real film, I blithely poured thousands of gallons of toxic chemicals DOWN THE DRAIN when I was done with it. It was just what you did, and nobody thought about it very much. In fact, the packaging for some developers contained a warning to flush the drains thoroughly after disposal, to avoid long-term damage to your pipes.
One of the biggest things that killed film was the rising price of processing. And A LOT of that rising figure came from the cost of chemical disposal once legislation was passed about it. It drove film processing out of most small labs and into the hands of big national firms who could afford to have the proper disposal methods and equipment.
So how will we get rid of equipment and waste, such as batteries, when it’s no longer worth very much when we are done with it, and we can’t pass the cost along to somebody else? I know the owners of a lot of rental companies personally, of course, and I know that the battery issue is still there, even though there are good ways of dealing with it. Our battery manufacturers all have disposal programs, but not all of us take advantage of them, and not all the time. The idea of carefully separating all dead batteries from other refuse, instead of leaving them scattered around the ballroom floor for the clean-up crew to deal with, is one we avoid. We have a battery bucket in the shop, and any we change there go into it, but that hardly accounts for all of them. And most battery compounds are highly toxic, and should be disposed of properly, that is if we want to have Spotted Owls, or people, in the future.
And that’s only part of it. Now the issue is used electronics, which contain PCBs, arsenic, toxic metals, and mercury. Ralph points out that even Goodwill won’t take lots of it any more. And as the speed of obsolescence increases, the idea of ever selling it for anything, and passing the disposal problem along to others, is fading fast.
I know in my area, at least, even the local landfill (“the dump”) won’t let you dump any electronics that you can’t hide in a trash bag.
So what are you doing with it? Any of you dealing with this yet, in any way that makes sense? This is your chance as an industry to head off the next wave of things our clients are going to insist on. Email me any suggestions. This is a great topic for our new blog, and I’ll post the best ones there.
rAVe Rental [and Staging] contributor Joel R. Rollins, CTS-R, is General Manager of Everett Hall Associates, Inc. and is well known throughout the professional AV industry for his contributions to industry training and his extensive background in AV rental, staging and installation. Joel can be reached at joelrollins@mac.com Leave a Comment
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Audipack Shows New One-Man Solution for Transportation and Installation of a Flat Screen At ISE 2011, Audipack demo’d the FS-QR120E, a one-man system for transportation and installation of a flat screen at variable heights. The compact system allows you to put together the components and stand and attach the screen while it’s still inside the flight case. Then when you push a button, the display will be lifted out of the case to presentation level. The FS-QR120E can handle screens up to 120 kg (265 pounds) and work with a large number of display brands.
To see a video we shot of the product in action at ISE 2011, click here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=3770&view=ravevideo&Itemid=243
For more information on the Audipack FS-QR120E, click here: http://www.audipack.com/products.php/product_details/13898/14042/84185 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Christie Previews YK50 At ISE 2011, Christie previewed the new YK50, which is a small yoke equipped with a Christie LX700 projector (a 7,000-ANSI lumen XGA LCD projector) that can be used as a light or for video projection. The final product should have a yoke, the projector, and a media server available as a bundle, according to Christie.
The company expects to officially launch the product in July, so not much other information is available right now.
To see a video we shot of the YK50 at ISE 2011, click here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=3804&view=ravevideo&Itemid=243 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top NEC Demos PH1000U WUXGA 3-Chip DLP, 11,000-ANSI lumen Rental Staging Projector NEC showed a prototype of a new rental and staging projector at ISE 2011 – the PH1000U. It’s a WUXGA-resolution (1920×1200), 3-chip DLP projector that has a brightness spec of 11,000 ANSI lumens and a robust housing. Up to three projectors can be stacked together and it has a variety of inputs, including DisplayPort.
Since it’s a prototype, more information is not available at the moment, but you can see a video we shot of the projector at ISE 2011 by clicking here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=3870&view=ravevideo&Itemid=243 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Extron's FOXBOX DVI Plus Fiber Optic Extender Extron recently released the FOXBOX DVI Plus Fiber Optic Extender, part of its fiber optic line of products for transmitting signals long distances over a single fiber optic cables. The FOXBOX DVI Plus Fiber Optic Extender is a transmitter and receiver set for lengthy transmission of DVI, audio, and RS-232 control signals over a single fiber cable. It uses Extron's digital, zero-compression technology to deliver pixel-for-pixel transmission of DVI computer-video images up to WUXGA (1920×1200) resolution, including 1080p/60. It also includes an EDID emulation mode, Auto Input Memory, RS-232 control from multiple locations, internal test patterns, and real-time system monitoring. The compact, low-profile enclosure allows installation behind a flat panel display, and multiple receivers can be daisy-chained. For more information, click here: http://www.extron.com/product/product.aspx?id=foxbox4gdviplus&s=5 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Orion Launches Plasma Video Wall for Rental at ISE Video wall manufacturer Orion debuted its brand new seventh-generation Infinite Plasma at ISE 2011. The 42” display offers increased brightness and contrast and a smaller seam gap over the previous generation, according to the company. The Infinite Plasma OPM-4260R has the same specs as the OPM-4260 model, but has a thin metal trim along the side of the glass to protect the display when being taken in and out of flight cases. It has a seam size of 3.5 mm and now has VGA, DVI and composite video inputs.
To see a video we shot of the display at ISE 2011, click here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=3684&view=ravevideo&Itemid=243
For more information on the company, visit http://www.infiniteplasma.co.uk Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Christie Adds L2K1000: 10K Lumen 2K LCD Projector Christie previewed at ISE 2011 the L2K1000, a 10,000-ANSI lumen, 2K-resolution (2048×1080) LCD projector. It incorporates the company’s new 4D Color technology and is the company's first 2K-resolution projector that has a 10,000-ANSI lumen brightness spec.
To see a video we shot of the L2K1000 at ISE 2011, click here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=3799&view=ravevideo&Itemid=243 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Analog Way Intros Axion2 Controller Analog Way announced at ISE 2011 the Axion2, a new high-end remote controller for live events and multi-screen venues. The Axion2 can control up to six independent screen configurations in different locations (single display or multiple projectors in soft edge-blended mode) and store up to 90 presets per screen configuration. It allows off-line programming, and thanks to the new sequences mode, a series of presets can be created in up to nine sequences for the six different screen configurations.
Other features include a Snap button that provides a magnetic grid on the console touch screen so operators can organize elements, plus user element buttons that automatically repeat traits of an element (e.g., size, position, transition) and apply it to the user’s chosen preference. A Toggle preset automatically alternates between two presets, while the Swap button can be used to make a swap between two layers.
To see a video we shot of the Axion2 at ISE 2011, click here: https://www.ravepubs.com/rave2011/index.php?option=com_ravevideo&ravevideo_id=3704&view=ravevideo&Itemid=243
For more information on the Axion2, click here: http://www.analogway.com/product/New-Axion2 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top Alcorn McBride Shows New iPad Apps for Lighting and Show Control At ISE 2011, Alcorn McBride showed two new iPad Apps for lighting and show control.
The first iPad App is Touch, a brand-new drag and drop utility for creating show/media control applications. It allows users to design full-featured touch screen interfaces for applications of any size, according to the company. Its platform includes a large library of virtual switches, buttons, indicators and displays. With the App, the iPad wirelessly obtains real-time information from the show controllers and allows the interface programming to be archived and retrieved from the controller.
Touch is coming out later this month and will cost $9.99 in the iTunes store. For more information, click here: http://www.alcorn.com/new-entertainment-controllers/
The second iPad App is LightingPad, used to control lighting for small shows or for installing and testing lighting systems. It can also be used to program Alcorn McBride’s LightCuePro. The App controls 512 channels of DMX and stores up to 100 cues with independent fade times. With the Art-Net DMX-over-Ethernet protocol, it can automatically search and interface with any Art-Net device.
LightingPad costs $9.99 and is available here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lightingpad/id378694460?mt=8 Leave a Comment
Share Article Back to Top For all you REGULAR readers of rAVe Rental [and Staging] out there, hopefully you enjoyed another opinion-packed issue!
For those of you NEW to rAVe, you just read how we are — we are 100% opinionated. We not only report the news and new product stories of the rental and staging industry, but we stuff the articles full of our opinions — in this case, it’s industry-veteran Joel Rollins' opinions. That may include (but is not limited to) whether or not the product is even worth looking at, challenging the manufacturers on their specifications, calling a marketing-spec bluff and suggesting ways integrators market their products better. But, one thing is for sure, we are NOT a trade publication that gets paid for running editorial or product stories. Traditional trade publications get paid to run product stories — that’s why you see what you see in most of the pubs out there. We are different: we run what we want to run and NO ONE is going to pay us to write anything good (or bad).
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rAVe [Publications] has been around since 2003, when we launched our original newsletter, rAVe ProAV Edition. rAVe HomeAV Edition, co-published with CEDIA, launched in February, 2004. rAVe Rental [and Staging] launched in November 2007. rAVe Ed [Education] launched in May 2008. rAVe DS [Digital Signage] was launched in January of 2009.
To read more about my background, our team, and what we do, go to https://www.ravepubs.com Back to Top Copyright 2011 – rAVe [Publications] – All rights reserved – All rights reserved. For reprint policies, contact rAVe [Publications], 210 Old Barn Ln., Chapel Hill, NC 27517 – (919) 969-7501. Email: sara@ravepubs.com
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