Ever been negatively effected by a low cellphone battery and an inability to use a friend’s charger because of compatibility issues? You’ll be excited to learn that the International Telecommunication Union (a segment of the United Nations) has finally agreed upon and approved the universal phone charger that they started working on back in February.

Not only will the new universal micro-USB charger mean convenience for users (who will no longer be limited to their specific phone model charger), the environmental benefits are seriously impressive. The Groupe Speciale Mobile Association (GSMA) estimates that 51,000 metric tons of chargers find their way to landfills annually, primarily when users upgrade to new phones and have no use for their old chargers. Better yet, the ITU has also made the universal phone charger more energy efficient (particularly in standby mode), which could mean a 13.6 million metric ton reduction in annual greenhouse gas emissions with widespread use.

Many major cellphone manufacturers—including LG, AT&T, Samsung and Nokia—have already expressed interest in the universal phone charger, which will not be enforced. Sony Ericsson is leading the way with universal chargers expected to be packaged alongside their phones in early 2010. Even Apple, a company initially resistant to the universal charger because of their success with their unique docking system, has come on board, but they’ll likely be adding an additional micro-USB charging port instead of replacing their current charging method. Click here to read more

Powered by Bookmarkify™

While electronics companies around the world have been working hard to assure buyers that they’ve gone green, Apple has had an especially difficult time convincing consumers of their eco-friendly actions. They’ve been called out by Greenpeace, ranked low on a few green company lists, and been critiqued by Dell for their campaign touting that they had the “greenest family of notebooks”. But the new portion of their site addressing environmental concerns could finally prove that there’s more green to Apple than just that familiar fruit logo.

Called Apple and the Environment, the site could well be one of the most open and consumer-friendly eco-focused sites in the electronics industry, and it may do more than just earn Apple consumer approval; it could set a standard for other companies, too.

On the site, Apple analyzes their environmental impact from a new approach, fully recognizing the lifecycle impacts of their products instead of just the effects of manufacturing, transportation and disposal (as many electronics companies have done). Ultimately, it states that its greenhouse gas emissions break down likes this: 38% from manufacturing, 5% from transportation, 53% from product use, 1% from recycling, and 3% from facilities. Factoring in the product use greenhouse gas emissions brings their overall emissions higher, but gives a much more accurate understanding of the effects of each product. Click here to read more

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Following in the footsteps of nonprofit organizations like Greenpeace, Newsweek took on 500 of the biggest companies in the US last week to rank the greenest businesses (and those farthest from it). The list, called Newsweek’s Green Rankings, was published both in a special 12-page section of the print magazine and online, and assessed the 500 largest publicly-traded corporations.

Hewlett-Packard secured top spot for their commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions—even in its supply chain, a first for IT companies—and for their efforts to remove toxic substances from their products. The newly number one company has taken heat from Greenpeace lately, however, for their failure to follow on green promises. The ability for HP to rank first when it much of its green action is talk highlights a common concern some environmentalists have raised about Newsweek’s Green Rankings; namely that the division of scoring across three categories (Environmental Impact, Green Policies and Performance, and Reputation) leaves room for businesses with big green intentions to beat out businesses with smaller—but more concrete—green actions.

Dell found its way into the number two spot, thanks in large part to their major use of renewable energy and the (much debated) carbon neutrality they achieved last year. HP and Dell weren’t the only two tech companies to receive high marks, however; half of the top ten highest ranking companies were tech companies and, likewise, half of the top 20, and those findings have also resulted in some doubts on the Green Rankings from environmentalists. The concern being that comparing tech companies to other corporations is unfair because of the very significant differences in operation, but Newsweek has stated that they not only took into account the difficulties of comparing companies in various sectors, but that the issue was the hardest they wrestled with and where they devoted most of their time. Click here to read more

Powered by Bookmarkify™

If you want a green iPhone, you’re best bet is to get a cover or a custom paint job because the real green factor seems far off for now. The latest iPhone, the 3GS, has, like its predecessors, met with disappointment from environmentalists, who were hoping that Apple (a company promoting a message of eco-friendliness more and more these days) would use the opportunity of a new model to change some of the environmentally damaging properties of the phone.

Unlike some of Apple’s computers—which it’s been working on greening—the iPhone features the kind of toxic materials that land electronics low on green ranking lists, like polyvinyl chloride plastics and brominated flame retardants. These harmful chemicals linger long after consumers have given up their cell phones for new models and can make it difficult to recycle other components. After the first iPhone release, Greenpeace published a report called “Missed Call: the iPhone’s Hazardous Chemicals” highlighting some of the issues caused by the elements used in the phone, including reproductive problems, and they repeated their concerns when the second generation of the iPhone showed up no different environmentally than its predecessor. With other cell phone companies hard at work on phones that charge wirelessly or via solar and eliminating toxic chemicals and virgin plastics from their handsets, Apple may well be falling short of environmental cell phone standards in its quest to offer the most technologically advanced phone on the market. Click here to read more

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Apple’s new ads for the world’s “greenest family of notebooks” had all the appeal that comes with a Mac ad–minimalism, background music and a sleek, shiny electronic item. But not everyone was buying it.

On December 19, 2008, Bob Pearson (Vice President of Communities and Conversations at Dell) posted an entry on the Direct2Dell blog titled “The Real Meaning of Being Green” and it bit into the Apple ad with statements about the importance of making green changes instead of just claiming things. While some readers took the post as a desperate attempt by Dell to try and sully Apple’s claims, others wondered about the truth to the topic and whether Apple was all talk. Since Mac versus PC has long been a favorite argument for computer-lovers everywhere, techies everywhere jumped at the chance to enter the ring once again.

The reality is that the claim Apple has made is a hard one to prove; while they’ve removed mercury from their displays and are making MacBooks with recyclable aluminum casings and recyclable glass screens, there are many more components to what really constitutes a green laptop. Like whether the computer contains brominated flame retardents (BFRs) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC)–and the MacBooks do, although in reduced quantities. Of course, a huge element of a green laptop happens at the company. Carbon sensitive operations help, as do thorough and consumer-focused take-back programs for recycling old computers, and while these may be areas where Apple is working on improvement, it would be tough to prove them as the industry leader (Dell achieved carbon neutrality in 2008, although it was met with skepticism). Click here to read more

Powered by Bookmarkify™