Laura Caulwell, a graduate of the National College of Art and Design, created a tree-shaped computer with parts that can be easily upgraded, the Electronic News website reports.
Known as ‘Cultivate – the Sustainable Living Computer’, the PC won Laura the Dyson Ireland Student Design Award last week.
The computer has the motherboard in the trunk, and each of the ten branches house components such as the battery, RAM, storage, speakers, ambient light and central processor.
Any of these can be ‘plucked’ from the tree if they need to be upgraded or recycled.
As well as this, the Cultivate computer has aluminium leaves, which cool down the components and can be bent into different shapes.
Businesses are increasingly looking for ways to improve energy efficiency and recycling in their offices, and the new PC is a step in the right direction.
The Dyson Ireland Student Design Award aims to present “a unique and exciting opportunity for an emerging Irish designer whose work best demonstrates the ability to think differently and create needed products that work better”.
Ben Meggeson