The Search for Green Electronics
In the search to find the greenest electronics out there, Greenpeace performed a survey amongst major electronics manufacturers. The results were extremely interesting. 37 products from 14 manufacturers were evaluated from the likes of Sony, Nokia, Dell, HP, LG, Panasonic and others.
The products were rated on the following "green" criteria:
1. use of hazardous chemical substances
2. energy efficiency of the device
3. product lifecycle: greenhouse gas, energy, and recycling stories
4. innovations and marketing
Good news was hard to find, but there was some. Turns out that most manufacturers are going beyond legal requirements for hazardous materials in their products, and are making encouraging headway towards energy-efficiency improvements.
However, the lack of a concrete lifecycle methodology with their products means that producing the products still uses lots of energy, produces tons of greenhouse gases, and the short lifespan of the products (avg: 3 years for cell phones, 7 years for pcs, 10 years for tvs) means they are landfilled extremely quickly.
No individual product scored better than 5 out of 10 on the survey. However, three products did meet that halfway mark. And to my surprise, they are all from Sony! The top three greenest electronics surveyed were:
Brave New Leaf applauds Sony for its commitment to create more sustainable electronics, and encourages them to go even further in their efforts.
If you're interested in reading the rest of the Greenpeace survey, you can find it here.
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