Green Tech

Greenpeace released its latest Guide to Greener Electronics on Wednesday, revealing that promises aren't always kept.

The Greenpeace guide, which started in 2006, ranks the top 17 PC, cell phone, TV, and gaming console manufacturers based on their policies regarding e-waste, climate change, and use of toxic chemicals.

Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Lenovo all dropped in the rankings for failing to live up to public promises to eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their computers by the end of 2009, according to Greenpeace.

While 2009 isn't over yet, Greenpeace noted that the companies have reset their clocks. HP (14th place) formally pushed back its phase-out of the chemicals to 2011. Dell (13th place) will fail to meet the 2009 deadline, but has offered no new timeline. Lenovo (down from 14th to 16th place) changed to a 2010 deadline, and Greenpeace claimed it has information that even that deadline will be dropped.

In conjunction with the release, members of the group protested at HP's Beijing facilities last week.

Apple, meanwhile, dropped to 11th place from 9th. Greenpeace gave the Mac maker kudos for its success in making products completely BFR-free and "virtually free of PVC," as well as its green computer campaign. But Apple was scolded for using "unreasonably high threshold limits for BFRs and PVC in products that are allegedly PVC-/BFR-free." As experts have noted, since there is currently no widespread standard for reporting on many environmental and carbon footprint issues, companies have been struggling to determine their own guidelines. Apparently, Greenpeace didn't like the ones it saw Apple using for this category.

Microsoft remained in 15th place, still admonished by Greenpeace for not having a better customer e-waste return policy.

Samsung garnered 2nd for succeeding in producing PVC-free LCD TVs and lowering the overall amount of toxins in its other products by significant amounts. Sony Ericsson moved up from 5th place to 3rd for improving its energy efficiency.

Last place? Still Nintendo, though Greenpeace gave the Wii maker points for switching to PVC-free internal wiring in their gaming consoles.

First place continues to be the province of Nokia, which remains the greenest company in the eyes of Greenpeace, notably for the success of its take-back program for used phones.

While many companies have gotten serious about recycling tech junk, Greenpeace sees e-waste as one of the most serious forms of pollution going unchecked.

The environmental organization claims that e-waste is the fastest growing contributor of municipal waste because of the frequency at which people upgrade to new cell phones, computers, and other electronics. According to its estimates, 20 million to 50 million tonnes of electronics are thrown away each year worldwide.(Others estimate that e-waste will plateau by 2015.)

CNET followed the last day of an analog TV's life as it was being recycled.

(Credit: Erik Palm/CNET)

On June 12, the U.S. makes its long-anticipated shift to digital television. As that changeover prompts consumers to ditch their old analog TV sets in favor of more modern devices, environmental organizations such as Greenpeace are warning of a surge in e-waste.

"We are seeing now a huge anticipated spike in the amount of electronic waste, really a tsunami of electronic waste coming through because of this digital transition," said Casey Harrell, a Greenpeace International campaigner.

And it's not just that the old television sets are piling up--as with scrapped PCs and printers, there's also the danger that they'll be exported to places with lax or nonexistent environmental safeguards.

"We're seeing a new wave of electronic waste that's ending up on the shores of India, China, West Africa, and Latin America," Harrell said.

E-waste often contains toxic metals such as cadmium, lead, and mercury, along with flame retardant chemicals that can accumulate in the body and potentially cause reproductive and neurological harm.

In the face of those concerns, some businesses are now promising to recycle your TV properly.

CNET News followed one aging analog TV as it headed to the next world, making its own transition from consumer electronics device to scrap metal and other parts. We met Mark Salvador as he was leaving his old Symphonic TV at a Waste Management site in San Leandro, Calif.

"The remote is not working, and the picture is not good. That is why we buy a new TV," Salvador said.

Salvador's TV set is transported from collector Waste Management to E-Recycling of California, in Hayward, south of Oakland. E-Recycling of California has pledged not to burn, dump, or export the waste, and for that reason it has received E-Stewards certification from the Basel Action Network, a watchdog group.

"We are actually dismantling it down into commodities...Everything's going at a commodity level on to be further recycled," Russ Caswell, manager at E-Recycling, explained. "A plastic-based television (is) 100 percent (recyclable). About the only thing on any television that doesn't always get totally recycled or reused would be a wooden case from an old console TV."

Ivan Tego of E-Recycling of California dismantles an analog TV.

(Credit: Erik Palm/CNET)

So what can you do to avoid contributing to the wave of electronic waste from the digital transition?

First, Greenpeace says, consider whether you really need a new TV. A digital converter box, subsidized by the government, can keep your old TV alive a few more years. Alternatively, the TV could continue its useful life for a while longer if you donate it to a charitable organization--the Environmental Protection Agency lists a number that will take the devices.

If you do decide to recycle the old TV, first go to the TV manufacturer's Web site for recycling information. (PC makers and retailers also offer recycling programs.) If you head to a recycling facility, make sure that the recycler has E-Stewards certification.

More information on recycling from EPA can be found here.

Swedish-Japanese phone maker Sony Ericsson on Thursday announced targets for reducing CO2 emissions.

The initiative, part of its pre-existing GreenHeart program launched in September 2008, is intended to reduce emissions by 20 percent across internal operations and by 15 percent over the full life cycle of its products by 2015.

Sony Ericsson plans to roll its green strategy into its entire portfolio over time, which is different from focusing on individual green products, such as Nokia's Green 3110 or Motorola's Renew W233.

"We would rather have mainstream models that we sell in large quantities than one particular green model," Jon Mulder, who heads the company's product marketing in North America, told CNET News. "Our customers should first and foremost be able to buy a great phone, and--by the way--find that it's a green phone, too".

One of three new products launching under Sony Ericsson's GreenHeart program is the C901, shown here.

(Credit: Kent German/CNET)

Methods for cutting emissions include providing e-manuals for products to reduce paper usage, and using smaller packaging to decrease the transport-related CO2 footprint, recycled plastics, low-power chargers, and water-based paint that uses local water in the manufacturing process.

Sony Ericsson is launching three products initially: the C901 GreenHeart, a new version of the Cybershot phone C901; Naite, a basic GSM and 3G phone; and the MH300 GreenHeart headset.

Sony Ericsson's approach is pragmatic and low profile, Mulder said. There will be no GreenHeart logo on the hardware, only indications in some of the software.

Sony Ericsson was ranked No. 3 out of 17 manufacturers of electronics in Greenpeace's latest version of its Guide to Greener Electronics from March 2009, earning 5.7 out of 10 maximum points.

The company slipped from its No. 1 position with 5.1 points in June 2008.

In March the same year, Greenpeace awarded Sony Ericsson's T650 the greenest rating among 37 products at the Cebit international electronics fair in Hannover, Germany.

Having issued a middling report card to consumer electronics companies earlier this year, environmental watchdog Greenpeace is now targeting big IT companies which it says are not pulling their weight when it comes to tackling climate change.

With its Cool IT Challenge, Greenpeace on Wednesday created a scorecard for the CEOs of the largest IT companies that shows how they rate on climate leadership. Overall, Greenpeace doesn't look on them kindly.

It gives IBM CEO Samuel Palmisano relatively high marks for disclosing the company's emissions reduction targets and spearheading its "Smart Planet" initiative to make transportation and the utility industry more efficient through IT. Toshiba scored only 2 out of 100 because it needs to improve its emissions reductions and use of renewable energy, according to Greenpeace.

(Credit: Screen capture by Martin LaMonica/CNET)

Greenpeace has kind words for Sun Microsystems for developing energy-efficient servers and undertaking a company-wide sustainable program.

Consumers are increasingly demanding better environmental attributes in their digital gadgets, but the consumer electronics industry can go a lot further to make gadgets "green."

Environmental watchdog Greenpeace held a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Friday to announce results of its second annual survey called "Green Electronics: the Search Continues."

(Credit: Greenpeace)

The good news is that manufacturers are using fewer hazardous chemicals, such as PVC plastic, and are running more electronic take-back programs. Another positive trend is the use of LED screens for notebooks, which are relatively energy efficient and use less mercury than other technologies.

But many manufacturers are slow in adopting EnergyStar energy-efficiency standards or using recycled materials. Consumer electronics companies should also take more responsibility for recycling, according to Greenpeace. (Click here for a PDF of the study.)

The assessment, which follows Greenpeace's ratings of individual vendors issued in November, comes at perhaps the most environmentally themed CES so far.

The show organizer, the Consumer Electronics Association, earlier this week issued results of a survey that found that consumers are increasingly looking for green attributes, as are manufacturers looking to differentiate products.

"Green is becoming a purchasing factor," Steve Koening, director of industry analysts at the CEA, told the BBC.

More than half of consumers are willing to pay a little more for products designed with the environment in mind, while 22 percent said that they are willing to pay 15 percent more.

Also telling were consumers' responses to what is considered "green." Over half of those surveyed said they didn't know what the environmental attributes of high-tech products were and 38 percent said they were confused by the "green" label.

That's not surprising given the explosion in green claims in the past few years. And when you consider the diversity of what's considered green tech at CES alone--from power strips that eliminate vampire loads to cell phones made from recycled material--it hints at the many aspects of "going green."

The CES show also hosted a Greener Gadgets Tech Zone and had a "Technology and Environment" session track with panels on electronics recycling and energy use.

Before the conference began, the organizers used a carbon emissions-management software application in an effort to lower the environmental impact of the event.

Greenpeace said that electronics manufacturers are making progress on reducing toxic materials and waste, but not making bold enough moves to cut energy usage.

The environmental watchdog on Monday published its 10th Guide to Greener Electronics, which it releases every three months. This edition adds five new criteria for energy, including whether manufacturers report usage, whether they purchase renewable power, and how efficient their products are.

Out of the pack, Nokia is on top, with Nintendo and Microsoft bringing up the rear.

Nokia get props for its comprehensive take-back program, which is now in 124 countries. In 2005, it phased out the use of PVC plastics and has set a target of cutting out brominated flame retardants and antimony trioxide by the end of next year.

Microsoft ended up in the second-to-last position for the second year largely because it has not yet phased out the use of toxic chemicals and doesn't have a voluntary take-back program. Nintendo gets rapped across the knuckles for not committing to a timeline for cutting out hazardous materials .

Meanwhile, Apple--once a last-place finisher--gets kudos from Greenpeace for its recently launched MacBook, which Apple touts as the "industry's greenest notebook." But Apple, too, still uses toxics in many products and it can do more on recycling and greenhouse gas emissions, says Greenpeace.

The lousy scores notwithstanding, Greenpeace says that, as a group, electronics manufacturers are improving when it comes to electronic waste and hazardous chemicals. But it added energy usage to its yardstick because global warming is an urgent problem.

"We need more than green talk from companies before we can call them leaders," said Greenpeace International campaigner Casey Harrell, in a statement. "We need to see action--rapid deployment of clean energy, innovative efficiency solutions and bold advocacy for fast action on global warming."

Perhaps not surprising, the The Consumer Electronics Association reacted a bit defensively to the latest report.

Parker Brugge, vice president of environmental affairs for the Consumer Electronics Association, told The New York Times Green Inc. blog that there has been a good deal of progress within the industry on environmental matters.

At the same time, he acknowledged that there is still more that can be done. "I'm not suggesting the products the industry makes are completely sustainable," he said.

People no doubt complain that Greenpeace is nitpicking or being too harsh in rating electronics manufacturers. But that's what an environmental watchdog group does: set a high bar and encourage corporations to meet it.

If done well, these sorts of scorecards also help consumers sort out the various factors that should back up the many green marketing campaigns.

(Credit: Slashphone)

If you're trying to impress people with your carbon footprint, you may not want to flaunt your phone unless it's made by Sony or Sony Ericsson. Those are the only electronics makers that scored above 5/10 in the latest edition of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics.

The organization tried to explain why the 18 companies that were assessed seemed to rank so low on its scale (PDF). "Electronics giants pay attention to environmental performance on certain issues, while ignoring others that are just as important. Philips, for example, scores well on chemicals and energy criteria, but scores a zero on e-waste since it has no global take-back polices," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International's toxics campaigner.

Sony Ericsson got high marks in the chemicals category, attributable in no small part to its ban on PVC beginning with this year's products, according to Slashphone. If you do carry a different brand, you might at least be able to disguise it with a case made from recycled tires.

Scores rose from an average of 4 points to peak at 6.6 last September, and then fell back to 4 as the watchdog group toughened its criteria.

(Credit: Elsa Wenzel/CNET Networks)

Nintendo is the least eco-friendly electronics maker, and Microsoft is barely better, according to Greenpeace. The environmental group rated the practices and designs of gadget makers lower than ever in its eighth quarterly report card (PDF).

Only two corporations scored above 5 out of 10 possible points in the report released Wednesday, down from 14 companies in March. Apple, for one, tumbled to 4.1 points in June after earning 6.7 in March more than a year after Steve Jobs' highly-publicized pledge to remove toxic ingredients from products and improve product takeback options.

Among the paltry few brands whose scores have improved is Nintendo, which ranked last with a .8 score. That was better than .3 in the spring and zero in December 2007. Greenpeace nailed the game console maker for failing to phase out toxic chemicals and for neglecting to help customers recycle.

A quick comparison of present and past scores may make it seem as if consumer electronics makers are reversing their progress since Greenpeace released its report in 2006.

That's because the eco-watchdog has raised the bar with the June version of its rankings.

The group is weighing more heavily the reduction of toxic chemicals and power hunger of gadgets, in addition to each brand's e-waste practices.

As for the latest scores, Nokia would have been at the top of the heap, had it not lost a point for failed recycling in India.

Sony and Sony-Ericsson tied for the top slot with 5.1 points each, largely for efforts to reduce plastic ingredients such as PVC and phthalates.

With a middling 4.1 score, Apple won marks for removing the same potential hazards from key products including iPods, iMacs, and the MacBook Air, and as well as for taking mercury out of the MacBook Air and some MacBook Pros. Apple has reported a 9.5 percent recycling rate on products sold seven years ago.

By any measure, Microsoft continued to show up near the bottom of the heap. It did not set goals to eliminate PVC or hazardous flame retardants, and it ranked near the bottom of the Greenpeace ratings. The only bright point in Greenpeace's estimation was in Microsoft's timeline to eliminate toxic phthalates from gadgets by 2010.

Despite the dismal-looking scores, those in the electronics sector are increasingly making concerted efforts to create less polluting products.

There's still a long way to go before PCs and gadgets of every stripe stop wasting power and winding up in landfills or e-scrap waste yards.

But for much of this young century, at least, most big, global names in the business have been complying with European rules to reduce hazardous substances, such as lead from solder in circuit boards and mercury from monitors.

In addition, designers are playing with modular designs and biodegradable materials that can easily be taken apart or broken down. Efforts are also on the rise to create universal power supply standards to stop phantom power waste.

Greenpeace aims to keep electronics makers on their toes with its rankings system.

Greenpeace might want to save the whales, but it's not above giving them silly names.

The legendary environmental organization, as part of its Great Whale Trail Expedition campaign, is tracking humpback whales in the South Pacific via satellite tags and hoping to gather data that will help protect them from hunting. To humanize the massive cetaceans a bit, Greenpeace International is also holding a whale-naming competition in the form of an online poll. It appears, looking at the site, that a number of "winning" names will go to the array of whales being tracked.

Looks like one humpback whale's going to be making a real splash.

(Credit: Greenpeace)

Among the 30 finalists, which were chosen from over 11,000 submitted, are names like Cian ("ancient" or "enduring" in Irish), Anahi ("immortal" in Persian), Kigai ("strong spirit" in Japanese) and Humphrey (after that whale who could've used GPS). There's also "Mister Splashy Pants," which appears to have been included among the other 29 names as an "oh, what the heck" entrant.

We're not sure if Greenpeace actually expected anyone to choose it among the list of sweet and profound ethnic monikers, but "Mister Splashy Pants" is currently swimming away with a whopping 68 percent of the vote.

The lesson stands true: When it comes to online polls, expect the unexpected.