Greenpeace’s Green Electronics Guide
Greenpeace just rleased their Guide to Greener Electronics at the conclusion of the 2010 CES. This guide details the top 18 manufacturers of all popular electronic devices including computers, gaming consoles, TVs and mobile phones.
Photo by Greenpeace Greener Electronics.
So How Do They Rank?
It looks like Nokia keeps its lead in the rankings even though their score has been reduced from the prior guide. Some of the other top companies include Toshiba and Apple while Microsoft and Nintendo coming out with teh lowest scores. The big problem with even the companies at the top of the list is that they still are not perfect.
How is it Calculated?
Each electronics company is given a score from 1 to 10(being the best) based off of information as to how Greenpeace would like the companies to be more environmentally friendly. The main areas that Greenpeace focuses on with their guide include:
- Hazardous materials used by the company.
- Recycling and takeback programs.
- Carbon footprint of company
- Energy efficiency of electronics.
The rankings are currently based off of public information about each electronics compnay. Though it would be desriable to use more private information, much of that is held within each corporation and not released to the public. Since the guide is fairly new, August 2006, they are still growing and are constantly trying to improve.
Public Reaction
Some in the public feel that the guide has done great good in making the electronics companies and consumers aware of how environmentally friendly they are and how they compare to other companies. While there are others that criticize the guide for being to harsh on many of the companies and not enough actual facts to back up their claims. As you would expect, most of this comes from the electronics industry, but even Greenpeace recognizes that their guide could be comprehensive. For now at least, the guide can hope that these companies try to change their environmental policies for the better.
Comments
I love how this makes consumers aware of how environmentally friendly their items are! Thanks for the post!
I love both Nokia and SonyEricsson because I’ve used both mobiles. It’s very encouraging to see companies focusing on the green aspect. Using non-hazardous elements to build devices will have a positive impact in the long run. As for Microsoft and Lenovo, it’s high time to improve because they are both huge firms.