Chicago (IL) – Greenpeace released a new edition of its Green Electronics Survey that ranks the greenest gadgets and computer hardware submitted by manufacturers. The organization concluded that all manufacturers that participated in the survey have made progress in one way or the other: Hazardous materials are being phased out and recycled materials are more and more part of the production; power consumption is decreasing and green energy policies are becoming much more transparent. Unfortunately, there are very few products published in this survey, but it is somewhat surprising that Apple and other high profile companies such as Nintendo and Microsoft declined to submit their products for testing.

The Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics has become one of the most important independent reports on green products in the IT industry. The guide ranks 18 companies and sheds some light on their eco-responsibility by considering criteria such the use of materials in their products, power consumption, product lifecycle characteristics such as recyclability, special innovations and disclosure of “green” data. The current report sees Nokia in the lead, followed by Sony Ericsson, Toshiba, Samsung and Fujitsu-Siemens. Trailing the pack are Apple, Philips, Lenovo, Microsoft and Nintendo. Nintendo is dead last and scores “zero on most criteria except chemicals management and energy,” Greenpeace said.

On a scale from 1 to 10, Nokia scores 6.9, while Nintendo is at 0.8. Microsoft is criticized for poor recycling and energy use (2.9 points overall), while Apple has made some progress in 2008 and now scores 4.3 points, since the company is now reporting product its carbon footprint and new iPods are free of both PVC and BFRs.

However, given Apple’s decision to put a much greater focus on green technology in 2008, it may be somewhat surprising to learn that the company decided not to supply its products to Greenpeace for testing in order to provide independent research that could confirm the company’s claims. “It is disappointing that Apple has, for a second year running, decided not to take part in this survey, especially since its new line-up of Macbooks, with drastic PVC and BFR reduction and high energy efficiency, could have scored well,” Greenpeace wrote. Besides Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Philips also “refused” to participate in the survey. Sony submitted game consoles for review, but since Microsoft and Nintendo were absent from the survey, a game console ranking was pointless Greenpeace said.

In other product segments, Greenpeace came up with the following results:

The greenest desktop PC: Lenovo ThinkCentre 58/M58p
The greenest notebook: Toshiba Portege R600
The greenest cellphone: Samsung SGH-F268
The greenest smartphone: Nokia 6210 Navigator
The greenest TV: Sharp LC-52GX5
The greenest desktop LCD: Lenovo L2440x wide

As mentioned before, only a limited number of products have been submitted, which means that these results (detailed results here) have to be taken with a grain of salt. However, the report provides comprehensive information on the products submitted for review.

Greenpeace concluded that the “electronics industry continues to make progress in putting products on the market with reduced environmental impacts (…). In addition to the overall improvement in the year since the first Greenpeace survey, the product scores are increasingly closer together, suggesting a more competitive environment in a ‘race to the top’ to produce truly green products. There are a number of findings that underline this trend, but also significant shortcomings in certain practices.”

According to the organization, LED displays that save energy and avoid the use of mercury in backlights are becoming more widespread in notebooks. In TVs and monitors, TVs and monitors, significant amounts of post-consumer recycled plastic are being used, while mobile phones and desktop and notebook computers are trailing this trend. Greenpeace found that companies have adapted to new Energy Star requirements, but the organization discovered that “a small number of products submitted for the survey did not yet meet the latest of these requirements.”

The entire report can be downloaded here.

Greenpeace behaves like thugs with the green crap

Jan 10, 2009 10:36     

They keep ranking Nintendo dead last because they haven't given them enough information. That's like saying the Ford Focus doesn't move because Ford didn't give you the speed and horsepower. It's a load of crap. If they don't have the info, they shouldn't be rating the company.
Task report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2

who takes them serious?

Jan 10, 2009 14:40     

c'mon, who takes greenpeace serious? they're constantly telling other people what they think those other people should do, yet they fail to realize how polluting their own ships and zodiacs are.
JohnnyricoMC report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Did you read the report?

Jan 11, 2009 11:08     

Quote:"Because Microsoft and Nintendo opted not to take part in the survey, and only Sony submitted game consoles for review, it has not been possible to rank game consoles." Page 3 of the document then how come nintendo is at the lowest? they might be toxic but i'm just wondering where you actually read that.
Felipe report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

Read Article then create headline

Jan 11, 2009 21:38     

The headline reads that Apple and Nintendo are absent but the report has them listed and ranked as of Nov 2008. ???
David report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +1

not suprised about Apple

Jan 12, 2009 07:56     

white does not mean green
pear report abuse vote down vote up Votes: +2