Sony have scored big with Greepeace and it has nothing to do with donations. Following months of testing and evaluation the Sony Vaio TZ11 laptop and the Sony Ericsson T650i mobile phone and the Sony Ericsson P1i PDA have come out on top in Greenpeace’s first “greener electronics products review”. Companies that refused to submit products despite being asked to do so were Acer, Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sharp.
Sony have scored big with Greepeace and it has nothing to do with donations. Following months of testing and evaluation the Sony Vaio TZ11 laptop and the Sony Ericsson T650i mobile phone and the Sony Ericsson P1i PDA have come out on top in Greenpeace’s first “greener electronics products review”. Companies that refused to submit products despite being asked to do so were Acer, Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sharp.
Greenpeace say that some products were more advanced than others and there is definitely room for improvement as none of the products reviewed scored over 5/10.
The enviromental group conducted a survey of the main brands of desktop PCs and notebooks, mobile phones, and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), assessing them on their use of hazardous chemicals, energy efficiency, overall product lifecycle (recyclability and upgradeability) and other factors such as the promotion of environmental friendliness and innovation.
They contacted market leaders and invited them to submit their most environmentally-friendly products available. In addition, they 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.
Thirty-seven products were assessed, from fourteen major electronics brands.
The best rated desktop came from Dell and HP but these and other mobile phones, laptops and PDAs didn’t score above 5/10.
The survey which was was based on voluntary participation by companies willing to submit their products to critical evaluation is set to be a benchmark for several Companies.
A Greenpeace spoksperson said “Unfortunately, not all the companies we invited agreed to participate, and in the game consoles category in particular we received either no submissions at all or they came too late to be included. Non-responders included: Acer, Apple, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sharp”.
They added “Since submissions closed, several companies have launched products that showcase new environmental innovations. Nokia’s Evolve phone uses more recycled plastic and has a highly efficient charger. Apple’s Mac Book Air eliminates the use of toxic mercury and arsenic to raise the bar on toxics reduction and because the electronics industry is moving fast we are at the world’s biggest IT fair – CeBIT in Germany, to check out which companies and products are on the cutting edge of environmental innovation. Our experts will be investigating the facts behind the hype and highlighting the leaders and showing up any superficial green claims”.
