How to Buy Green Electronics

To follow up on Jacob’s blog, there is EPEAT that ranks the electronic products on the American side, but also the EU Flower that awards computers on the European side. For instance, in the product category “Notebooks”, ASUS just received the European Flower, whereas Toshiba is ranked among the best companies according to EPEAT for one of its notebooks.

After a quick look on their websites, both organisations, the EPEAT and the EU Flower, are independent structures that seem to assess the electronic products according to similar life-cycle criteria. On the other hand, when looking at the EU Flower database, there are only two products in the category “portable computers and personals computers”.

Another point worth mentioning is the Greenpeace barometer. They periodically rank the best (and the worst) electronic producers according to life-cycle principles. This barometer has been running for two years now and 10 guides (or rankings) have been published. Nokia is in the leading position at the moment.

Finally, there are of course all the self-declared labels, where the producers award themselves according to their own criteria. An example is Philips’ Greenthick logo.

Adding to confusion? Greenwash? or good intention to improve their products? À propos, Philips is lagging behind in the Greenpeace ranking “due to regressive lobbying against the principle of Individual Producer Responsibility in an EU consultation on the revision of the WEEE Directive” and e-waste criteria. On the other hand, the company holds the EPEAT silver medal for some flat screens.

Personally, as a consumer, I think I’d rather rely on EPEAT, the Flower or Greenpeace.

EPEAT

EU Flower

Greenpeace Guide to greener electronics

No Comments » | Tags: computers, electronics
Posted by Estelle on Friday, November 28th, 2008 | Permalink |

EPEAT on FOX

Here’s a good article on Fox News (yes I know) about the environmental impacts of computers. There’s a lot of nasty little chemicals in these things, but we can’t really work without them any more.

It’s an example of a product that is ideally suited for an ecolabel, and EPEAT is really rising to the challenge. Well done!

Pingback

1 Comment » | Tags: electronics
Posted by Jacob on Monday, November 24th, 2008 | Permalink |

Eco-Televisions En Route
break out the x-box...

According to the DailyGreen.com the LCD TV Association is planning a label for eco-friendly televisions. No information on their website but worth keeping an eye out for. Once the label launches we’ll post it here.

According to the press release as a first step the association plans to advocate ambient light sensors in televisions that automatically adjust the brightness of the TV and can improve energy efficiency as much as 30%.

1 Comment » | Tags: electronics
Posted by Jacob on Monday, May 5th, 2008 | Permalink |

What Colour is Master Chief?
Lock & Load.

He ’s green baby. And what better way to set up a raucous green fragfest with your friends than with Sharp’s new power saving Aquos?

This power sipping telly consumes only 0.5 watts in stand-by mode and overall uses 30% less power in eco-mode. It’s so frugal that it won an EU Eco-Flower. W00t.

No Comments » | Tags: electronics
Posted by Jacob on Monday, February 4th, 2008 | Permalink |

Green to Gold Case in Point
Why we're charged up about Boston Power.

Boston Power just brought in a US$ 45m war chest for continued development of its battery technologies.

They highlight the safety, speed of charge, and interestingly for us, the Nordic Ecolabel certification for their new Sonata battery.

Only one question, why did a US company choose a Nordic based ecolabel?

No Comments » | Tags: electronics
Posted by Jacob on Sunday, February 3rd, 2008 | Permalink |

Green Purchasing for IT Managers? Check.
Fellow geeks! How about a free green purchasing strategy?

A UK based company called Carbon Free has just published a report outlining ways for IT managers to increase their energy efficiency. The report costs 195 pounds and includes an analysis and catalogue of relevant ecolabels. We currently catalogue nine electronics labels and fifteen energy labels. It’s not as pretty but you can use our website to make a note of the ones in your region and look for them when you shop for free.

No Comments » | Tags: electronics, energy
Posted by Jacob on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 | Permalink |