I know that recycling is a science. I learned about paper making from paper engineers, and if you don't know how paper is made you won't be a good recycler. We made a big mistake in 1992 promoting recycled content in writing paper when we could have first maximized it in toilet paper. That was just a money mistake, it was wasteful to cut down trees to make toilet paper (making fibers shorter) when the main challenge to recycled writing paper was that the fibers were too short to make quality writing paper.... One part passion and two parts study has been a good recipe for this environmentalist.
Since I took the "special assignment" of CRT Consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in 1998 (a queer public management option where you accept a "demotion" and get 3 days per week and a $11K salary increase), I've been learning about display devices. Still a very "visual" technology, like writing paper. But very high tech and "science-y", as Colbert might say.
I'm really good at these now. I read industry magazines, some translated from Chinese or Japanese, and I follow what is going on. This keeps me from chasing a "today's price" on, say, used LCDs, or allows me to sell my stocks of display devices short when the market is turning. And the market has been turning the wrong direction on display device pricing for the past 3 years.
Last year was good for cell phones and pads, and therefore for small "touchscreen" display makers. But it's been a real tough time for big TV screens. CRT manufacturing may actually outlive Plasma Display screens, and few Americans would have predicted how long they stayed valuable. But there's an end in sight.
Since I took the "special assignment" of CRT Consultant for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection in 1998 (a queer public management option where you accept a "demotion" and get 3 days per week and a $11K salary increase), I've been learning about display devices. Still a very "visual" technology, like writing paper. But very high tech and "science-y", as Colbert might say.
I'm really good at these now. I read industry magazines, some translated from Chinese or Japanese, and I follow what is going on. This keeps me from chasing a "today's price" on, say, used LCDs, or allows me to sell my stocks of display devices short when the market is turning. And the market has been turning the wrong direction on display device pricing for the past 3 years.
Last year was good for cell phones and pads, and therefore for small "touchscreen" display makers. But it's been a real tough time for big TV screens. CRT manufacturing may actually outlive Plasma Display screens, and few Americans would have predicted how long they stayed valuable. But there's an end in sight.
The one prediction I've made about the sale potential for used CRTs has been this: The last new CRT will be made before the last used CRT is resold. Now, because of Communist Party Chinese (aka Military owned factories) investment in CRTs, they have been produced quite stubbornly and at a probable loss. But the adage about the "last used sale" beating the last new sale is still true.The large drop in volume is due to decreased TV shipments into Japan, down from 19.8 million units in 2011 to just 7.5 million units in 2012, following the end of government subsidies for eco-friendly consumer electronics. Not counting Japan, global TV shipments are set to remain broadly the same in 2012, with growth in developing TV markets like Latin America and the Middle East-Africa offset by the small decline in North America and Europe.Meanwhile, shipments this year of legacy cathode ray tube televisions (CRT TVs) and plasma display panel televisions (PDP TVs) will continue to fall precipitously. CRT TV volumes will slide from 25.5 million in 2011 to 15.8 million this year, while PDP TV shipments will retreat to 8.9 million in 2012, down from 13.9 million last year.Growth will return to the television market in 2014. Once this stabilization occurs, the year 2015 will see global shipments return to growth, and sales will rise in countries such as Brazil, India and Indonesia.
