green electronics

Top 10 Things to Ask When Buying 'Green' Electronics

jplatt — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:00:00 -0500

Buying electronics is a chore. Picking the right device takes time, research, and money.

Unfortunately, buying green electronics can require even more time and research, and sometimes a little bit more money. But the rewards for the planet are well worth it, and you just might enjoy your gadgets a bit more knowing you made a right choice for the environment. '

With that in mind, here are 10 ideas to take into consideration when buying electronics to help you make the greenest choice.

10. Is it ENERGY STAR rated? This is one of the easiest ways to make sure your device is eco-friendly. ENERGY STAR devices use less energy than competing products, so look for the ENERGY STAR logo. If it's not there, you might want to keep looking.

9. How easily can it be recycled? The more complex the device, the harder it is to recycle. You also want to look at what chemicals and materials are used; some are more toxic than others.

8. Is it responsibly manufactured? Does the manufacturer have a good eco-record?

7. How long will it last? If your new device won't last a few years, or more, is it worth buying?

6. Are the manufacturers' green claims independently certified? There are dozens of organizations -- too many to list here -- that test and verify products, making sure they are truly green. Certified products will have an official logo on the package, so look for them and ask what they mean.

5. Is the packaging recyclable, made from recycled materials, or at the very least, kept to a minimum amount?

4. Do you need it? Can your old tech's lifespan be extended, or can it be made greener? Let's face it, you don't need every new device. Keeping an old product in use for a longer period of time is almost always the greenest option.

3. How eco-responsible is the retailer? Do they offer take-backs of old devices? Do they take efforts to green their supply chain? Do they use eco-friendly building materials? Look the company up; don't do business with companies that don't support the environment.

2. Is the green value worth the price? In other words, don't spend $1,000 extra to save $500 in energy costs over the life of the product.

1. Is it the greenest option available, or can you do even better? Okay, so there's always just a little bit more research you can do. But trust me, it will be worth it.

A Real TV Star: New ENERGY STAR Rules for TV Efficiency

jplatt — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 06:00:00 -0500

How many hours a day do you use your TV? One? Two? Five? More?

Okay, let's ask a more important question: is your TV energy efficent?

Don't know the answer? That's okay, because until now it was hard to know if your television was a power hog or not. But now new rules from the EPA's ENERGY STAR will make it easier to buy an energy-efficient model -- just in time for the holidays!

Old ENERGY STAR rules only rated TVs according to how much power they used while off or in "standby" mode. The new rules go several steps further, requiring energy efficiency when TVs are on, and also guiding the use of external power supplies when necessary. "This new specification is important," says the EPA, "since televisions being sold now are larger, in use more hours a day, and offer more vibrant pictures, which can impact the amount of electricity they use. In fact, some of the largest, high resolution televisions can use as much as 500 kWh per year."

TVs with an ENERGY STAR rating will use an estimated 30% less juice than other TVs, so this will really make a difference as people replace their old models with new, higher-tech screens.

So far, 229 TVs conform to the new rules. They include 19 plasma models, 199 LCD models, and 11 "others".

Check 'em out!

Make Beautiful Music with Eco-Friendly Audio Systems

jplatt — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:25:22 -0400

Love music? Love the environment? Then let's talk about this year's greenest audio devices.

Like all electronics, audio systems can contain all kinds of toxic materials. They aren't always easily recyclable, and they often come with too much packaging. They also tend to use a lot of power, a critical concern when we're trying to make things more energy efficient.

To help make sure you're choosing the greenest audio components, MetaEfficient has named the Greenest Audio Systems of 2008. Winners include the Pure iPod dock, the Samsung SWA-4000 Wireless Rear Stereo Amplifier, and the Panasonic SC-PT650 home theater system. Several brands of speakers and receivers are also rated.

All of these devices ranked well on energy efficiency, and often use eco-friendly manufacturing processes.

There are other ways you can "green" your music. You can buy any number of solar chargers to keep your MP3 players juiced up. Buying music digitally can also be green, since it doesn't involve any manufacturing or shipping.

Got other ways you keep your tunes eco-friendly? Post 'em here!

Greenpeace Ranks Nokia as Most Eco-Friendly Electronics Maker

jplatt — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 09:00:00 -0400

Greenpeace has once again updated its list of the electronics makers with the best (and worst) records of producing eco-friendly goods.

Greenpeace not only ranks companies by the materials they use in their devices, but also how easy their products are to recycle and how much the company does to encourage recycling. They also look at energy efficiency and other criteria.

This time around, Nokia has topped the list, thanks, Greenpeace says, to the company's "improved take-back practice in India."

Samsung took second place this time around, thanks to the energy-efficiency of its products. Fujitsu Siemens climbed a few places in the list after setting 2010 as its deadline to eliminate toxic PVC plastic and all BFRs from its computers and other products.

The manufacturer with the worst ranking? Once again, Nintendo earned that distinction for its high levels of toxic chemical use and the low recyclability of its products.

You can download the entire Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics here.

A Greener Webcam? You betcha!

jplatt — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:12:22 -0400

With a device as small as a webcam, do you really need to be green?

Well, why not? You're going to eventually replace or throw out any device you buy, so why not think of it in a way that puts the cradle-to-the-grave life cycle in mind?

United Pepper certainly does that with its new Lili Webcam ($44.90 plus $6 shipping from Belgium). As you can see from the photo here, United Pepper has taken a unique and fun approach to designing their device. The starfish-like exterior is made from cotton, and it's packed with sand and kapok. It therefore uses less plastic than similar devices, and according to the company 70% of the materials are Fair Trade. It's also packaged in recycled materials.

Life Goggles gave the Lili Webcam a good review, saying it "does the job as a webcam but don’t expect to be producing quality recordings with it."

This isn't United Pepper's only green computing device. They also offer a similarly made USB hub, called the Oscar, for $29.90.

Three cheers for a company thinking outside the box!

A Greener iPhone

jplatt — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:00:00 -0400

More than a million 3G iPhones were sold in the U.S. in the three days following the hot new device's release, a victory not just for Apple, but also for green electronics.

Not that Apple is telling us that. But as Worldchanging recently uncovered, the new iPhone takes several strides toward being a more environmentally responsible device.

Most importantly, the iPhone's battery is no longer soldered into place. Not only is solder a potentially toxic substance, its use made it impossible for users to replace their own batteries. If an iPhone battery failed, owners had to ship their devices back to Apple to be fixed, or just throw them out. So, no solder automatically means less toxic waste.

By the way, Apple also brags that the iPhone's battery life exceeds that of other 3G devices. Duly noted.

Worldchaging found a few other changes that make this new iPhone greener than previous versions: "...the handset, headphones and USB cable are all now PVC-free. The circuit board is produced without bromine. The LCD is made sans mercury" All of which is good news.

Of course, a huge percentage of those million iPhones were replacements for older devices. What happened to the old phones? Let's hope they were recycled properly. (See my earlier article, "How to Recyle Your Old Cell Phone.")

Greenpeace grades the greenest electronics

jplatt — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 12:00:00 -0400

For the eighth time in the last two years, Greenpeace has ranked electronics manufactuers according to their policies and manufacturing procedures to come up with a list of the "greenest" electronics makers.

Companies were ranked on their efforts to reduce e-waste (including accepting products back from consumers after they've been used), improve the power efficience of their devices, disclose their efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and eliminate the use of hazardous chemicals in their products (or come up with a timeline to do so).

Once again, Sony Ericsson topped the list, thanks in no small part to their dropping PVC chemicals from their products and making devices that meet or exceed ENERGY STAR requirements for energy efficiency.

Nokia would have come in first place, but lost a full point in its rankings "for corporate misbehaviour on its take-back and recycling practice."

Out of the 18 manufacturers ranked, Microsoft ranked # 17, mainly for the use of toxic chemicals. Nintendo took the bottom slot, scoring poorly on e-waste and energy efficiency.

Energy Star: It's About More Than Refrigerators

jplatt — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:00:36 -0400

My wife travels a lot, so I thought I would try to make those long trips more fun by buying her a portable DVD player. But being a good greenie, I wanted to make sure I chose the most energy-efficient model. My quest led me to a Sony device that happened to have the government's ENERGY STAR logo stamped on the package.

But wait, I thought, isn't ENERGY STAR just about refrigerators and air conditioners?

No, it turns out that the program is much broader, ranking all kinds of home and business appliances, electronics and other commercial products. In addition to home heating and cooling devices and major appliances, the program evaluates TVs, battery chargers, stereos, cordless phones, computers, copiers, lighting systems --- and even new homes!

According to ENERGY STAR's website, "Americans, with the help of ENERGY STAR, saved enough energy in 2007 alone to avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 27 million cars — all while saving $16 billion on their utility bills."

Sounds like a program doing good work, while helping us all in the process. So keep an eye out for that logo -- it definitely makes a difference.

Green Your Cell Phone in One Easy Step

jplatt — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If you're anything like most cell-phone users, your phone is always on. It's always ready to take a call -- and always consuming power. And if your phone is anything like mine, that means it's probably also always in need of a recharge.

Now, it's great that cell phones are rechargeable -- could you imagine having to change the batteries every few days? -- but there's still a problem that makes them less green than they could be.

Your cell phone, you see, is a glutton. It doesn’t know when to stop sucking electricity from the wall. Oh, sure, the battery can only hold so much juice, but the charger keeps pulling power as long as it's plugged in. Your phone could fully charge in two hours, but if you leave it plugged in for four hours, you've used twice the amount of electricity that you needed to.

The best solution is to pay attention when you're recharging. Leave your phone out in the open and keep an eye out for that "charge complete" notice to flash across the screen. Then unplug it. (While it may be convenient, I'd recommend against letting a phone charge overnight. You won't be able to unplug it, and it could use hours worth of extra power.)

Need help remembering? Some phones (like these from Nokia) offer audible reminders to unplug a fully charged phone.

You could also switch to a solar charger (several are on the market), or even a wind-up charger. That's taking things even greener.

Even better, tech companies could get a move on and market more chargers that actually stop taking electricity when a device is fully charged. UK retailer Carphone Warehouse introduced such a device last year, but as far as I can tell, nothing like it is available in the U.S.

Until then, unplugging may be the environment's best friend.

Who Makes the Greenest Electronics?

jplatt — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:18:33 -0500

The Sony Ericsson T650i mobile phone is one of the greenest cell phones on the market, according to a new report from Greenpeace. The venerable environmental organization studied 37 devices (cell phones, laptops and desktop PCs) from 14 brands, judging them on energy efficiency, recyclability and avoidance of toxic manufacturing substances.

Also ranking high were the Sony Vaio TZ11 notebook and the Sony Ericsson P1i PDA. None of the desktop PCs reviewed received good grades.

While even Greenpeace itself admits that this study is not comprehensive enough to be used as a buying guide for all products, they are using the study to show that while electronics makers have come a long way toward getting greener, they still have a lot further to go. They also want to encourage consumers to think green when buying electronics, and to buy the most environmentally responsible products available.

An earlier report from Greenpeace discussed the rising tide of "e-waste" from electronics, and showed how much of it is dumped in the developing world, where toxic chemicals will impact generations yet to come.