Greenpeace survey finds few green electronic devices

A new survey by Greenpeace to find ‘green’ electronic devices available on the market in 2007 yield overwhelmingly disappointing results, with only three out of 37 products tested scoring higher than then the half way mark of 5 out of 10 possible points, with the highest score from all the products maxing out at 5.3 by SonyEricsson’s T650i mobile phone.

The survey, released during a press conference at CeBit in Hannover, Germany, evaluated desktop PCs, notebooks, mobile phones, PDAs and game consoles on the market today on their use of hazardous chemical substances, energy efficiency, overall product lifecycle (recyclability and upgradeability) and other factors such as promotion of environmental friendliness and innovation.

“We contacted market leaders and invited them to submit, on a voluntary basis, their most environmentally-friendly products currently available,” Greenpeace said. “In addition, we placed ads in trade magazines and on websites encouraging other producers to participate. Each company could submit a maximum of three products in each of the product categories.”

The survey was based on voluntary participation by the companies and not all the companies Greenpeace invited participated. Acer, Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sharp were invited but did not respond, while in the game consoled category, no submissions were received before the submission deadline.

Fourteen companies submitted their products, including Sony, SonyEricsson, Dell, HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Panasonic, Nokia, LG, Motorola, Samsung, Mio and RIM. SonyEricsson took the top spot in both the mobile and PDA categories. The company’s T650i beat out Nokia’s N95 to come out on top in the mobile phone category, but only with a barely passing grade of 5.30 while its P1i model top the PDA category with a 5.10 score. Sony’s Vaio TZ11 was the greenest notebook at 5.29 points, while Dell’s Optiplex 755 was the greenest desktop with a point of 4.71.

Despite the poor scores, Greenpeace does confirm that “the industry has already made advances along the path to green electronics.”

Positive signs by the industry include product designs that go beyond the basic regulatory requirements for the elimination of hazardous substances; commercial release of products that are free of hazardous chemicals; and an industry-wide focus on energy efficiency.
However, Greenpeace is critical of the industry’s weak efforts in managing product lifecycles, pointing out that simple task that can extend the life of a product, such as replacing a worn out battery is often prohibitively expensive and difficult.

ONLINE GREEN METER FOR ELECTRONICS MAKERS:

Greenpeace also produces an online ‘Guide to Greener Electronics,’ a quarterly report that ranks top market leaders of the mobile phone, computer, TV and games console markets according to their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and takeback. In the latest edition published mid-March, Samsung and Toshiba share top spot with 7.7 out of 10, closely followed by Nokia, Sony, Dell and Lenovo all on 7.3. Nintendo ranks the lowest with a score of 0.3 due to a lack of public policy on toxic elimination and recycling.

In the latest guide, 14 out of 18 companies scored 5 and more in the scale of 10 with six companies scoring 7.3 or more.

Related posts:

1. Green Telecom survey: Asian telcos unprepared for the carbon challenge

Tags: green electronics, greenpeace, mobiles, Recycling

Category: Climate change, Green corporations, Mobile