Credit card could advise of environmental impact of purchases
A London design house has come up with a novel concept to assist with the protection of the environment
Environment Secretary David Milliband has put forward the idea of credit cards for carbon emissions as a fairer alternative to a tax on greenhouse emissions.
Smart card technology will soon allow us to see our carbon credits fall each time we buy something on the card itself.
With this in mind, London based product innovation consultancy Design Stream and Identity specialist Sven Vogel have teamed up to create the Emissary credit card concept- an engaging way for us to take on board just how we as individuals can make a difference to climate change.
The Emissary card concept pairs advances in flexible screen technology with next generation card chip design. The vision being a credit card which can display messages about our consumption of goods and services. "The key is that this message is delivered as moving images on cards at the point of purchase" said Chaz Nandra, innovation director at Design Stream. "This makes us immediately aware of what impact our purchase will have on the environment".
Both card capacity and processing speed are continually improving with major players in the electronics industry leading breakthroughs in the field. This combined with massive investment into development of a variety of flexible screen technologies, from Epaper to FOLED’s (Flexible Organic LED’s) and TFT's (Thin Film Transistor’s) will mean that with time it will be commercially viable for this idea to become a reality. "What better way to gain an understanding of how our lifestyle impacts on the environment?" Chaz Nandra asks.
