The TM-1000 Tabletop Microscope from Hitachi High-Technologies is measurably kinder to the environment than the company’s previous entry-level scanning electron microscope.
As part of an evaluation across Hitachi’s range of consumer, commercial and scientific products, measurements have been made in terms of contribution to the prevention of global warming and use of resources.
The Hitachi Group’s aim is for its products to increase the quality of life for users within their sphere of operation, whilst reducing their environmental impact. The latter is measured by comparing the efficiency of global warming prevention and efficiency of resource usage between the current product and the product it is replacing.
The calculations take into account a number of different factors, but key contributors are power consumption and the mass of material used in the units.
The power consumption of the TM-1000 is 80 per cent lower than the previous entry level SEM, lower power consumption means less electricity is required and therefore less CO2 (a contributor to the ‘greenhouse’ effect) is produced at the power station to run the instrument. The reduction in power consumption results from the miniaturisation of the unit and the use of a permanent magnet instead of an electromagnet in the electron optical system.
The mass of the TM-1000 is 78 per cent lower compared to the previous model. This again results from miniaturisation and a redesign of the microscope’s vacuum system, which now no longer requires a cooling water system.