How green is your laptop? And, what, exactly, does an eco-friendly laptop look like? Back in 2007, POPSCI.com posted an article about what an ideal green laptop would look like. Take a look at your notebook…does it meet those standards?
Since that time, EPEAT and Greenpeace have set real-life standards for electronics firms. Notebooks are rated along with the companies that produce them. EPEAT, run by the nonprofit Green Electronics Council, takes into consideration low-toxic materials as well as the energy conservation and ease of recycling of computers, printers and monitors. Greenpeace monitors companies by how they treat chemical and e-waste materials. Both ratings were used in the list of notebooks chosen below. The notebooks are listed in EPEATS gold awards list, the highest ranking for current notebook products. But, their listings often are modified by the Greenpeace standards, which are linked individually to the Greenpeace reports in the descriptions below.
In sum, most of the notebooks below are about equal in their eco-friendly status, but the first and last notebooks on this list win, hands down, for the current market. The last notebook on the list was not rated by EPEAT or Greenpeace, however, as that product’s target market is not the same as the others. But, its inclusion shows that all notebooks can be made eco-friendly. Sometimes a little consumer pressure helps.
Toshiba Portege R500 – PPR50U
Currently, the Toshiba Porege R500-PPR50U series rates the highest in EPEAT gold, with its reduction or elimination of environmentally-sensitive materials, design for end of life, product longevity and life cycle extension and corporate performance. Toshiba now has five notebooks that qualify for Gold EPEAT status — all of the Portégé R400 and Portégé R500 configurations as well as the Tecra M9.
With that said, Greenpeace records that Toshiba as a company does not do as well on e-waste, as it reports a recycling rate of 12% for a group of 5 types of products that includes TVs, PCs and 3 types of home appliances (based upon current sales). Toshiba improves its score in the Greenpeace report on energy, gaining points for supporting global cuts in GHG emissions and greater cuts for industrialized countries as well as scoring points for disclosing greenhouse gas emissions from its own operations and committing to an absolute reduction in GHG emissions. They rank at seventh place in the September 2008 report.
DELL Latitude D630
This model is the first laptop on the worldwide market to win the highest gold rating from EPEAT — the EPEAT Gold. However, it currently runs second to the Toshiba Portege R500 – PPR50U noted above. The main green reduction and/or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials, followed up by its design for end of life, end of life management and product longevity. The Dell notebook meets EnergyStar requirements of 80 percent efficiency and ships in packaging made from partly-recycled cardboard. Judging by its CNET Editors’ Choice award, the Dell D630 performs well too. The DELL Latitude D630 ATG and the DELL Latitude D631 also hit the EPEAT top ten in the gold awards, all noted before June 2008.
However, in September 2008, Greenpeace noted that DELL had dropped from 5th to 8th place in their rankings, as they have “middling scores on chemicals, e-waste and energy issues.” Yet, DELL has reached configurations in 42% of their laptops that meet or exceed Energy Star requirements since July 2007. Dell also scores points for disclosing its GHG emissions from global operations, with extra kudos for getting the emissions third-party verified.
Sony’s TZ series
In March 2008, Greenpeace singled out the Sony TZ series of 11.1″ subnotebooks for praise, because this notebook is, literally, garbage free with its pre-installed applications. These notebooks also do not contain beryllium, a gray metal found in beryl and bertrandite ores that can cause intestinal lesions. By September 2008, however, Greenpeace dropped Sony as a company to fifth place in its rankings. According to Greenpeace, Sony does well on chemicals, e-waste and on disclosing externally-verified greenhouse gas emissions for over 200 sites, reporting on its use of renewable energy (1.02% as a proportion of total electricity use) in 2006 and committing to absolute cuts in GHG emissions.
But, they can improve on energy, so Sony now is reporting on energy efficiency as a whole. Sony also takes many EPEAT gold awards, starting at rank fourteen and continuing non-stop for almost fifty spots.The models range from the Sony VGNSR190EBQ to the Sony VGNSR129E/B. The strongest points at EPEAT involve the reduction or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials.
HP Compaq 2710p Notebook PC
This notebook has been getting buzz this year as one of the top green notebooks of 2008. While it won a gold EPEAT award, the HP Compaq 2510p Notebook PC actually scored higher. Both have great battery life, high scores on reduction and/or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials, design for end of life, product longevity and corporate performance.
HP, as a company, smarts from the dent made by Greenpeace’s evaluation. None of HP’s products are entirely free of e-waste, although they promise to accomplish this goal by 2009. Plus, HP lost a point for favoring business customers over individual consumers when it provides information on how to dispose of products. Lots of promises made by HP for upcoming years, so hopefully they’ll improve from their standing at ninth place at Greenpeace.
Apple MacBook Air
While the Apple MacBook Air falls near the bottom of EPEAT’s gold list, it’s there — and Mac fanatics can rejoice that this company is making an effort to green up their notebooks. They score at the top on reduction and/or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials, design for end of life, product longevity and life cycle extension, corporate performance and end of life management. However, they scored at the lowest end of energy conservation and materials selection.
Greenpeace confirms Apple’s deficits, and dropped this company as a whole to thirteenth position in September 2008. Greenpeace would like to see Apple improve its chemicals policy and its reporting on chemicals management.
Apple scores poorly on most e-waste criteria, except for reporting a recycling rate in 2006 of 9.5% as a percentage of sales 7 years ago. It does only slightly better on energy criteria, failing to score on all criteria except energy efficiency of products, where it scores top marks (doubled) for all desktops computers, portable PCs and displays complying with Energy Star 4.0. With that said, in October, Apple revealed a new MacBook family that they say are the “Recently unveiling a new MacBook family at its Cupertino headquarters, Apple calls the new laptops the “industry’s greenest notebooks,” according to EnvironmentalLeader.com. Apple also reports growth in takeback programs, with recycling volume growing to 57 percent in 2007. Here’s to scoring higher in the next Greenpeace report.
Lenovo ThinkPad X300
This notebook ranks at thirteen in the EPEAT gold awards, but it stands below only three companies: Toshiba, DELL and HP. And, it stands above Sony’s many notebooks, with more Lenovo notebooks following the Sony listings. The Lenovo ThinkPad X300, however, is the company’s first notebook to make the EPEAT gold standard with its mercury-free LEDs, low-voltage processor and an improved ‘battery stretch.’ Packaging materials for the X300 are 90 percent recyclable and the use of toxic materials such as cadmium, lead, and arsenic have been reduced. It rates low for its end of life management and its materials selection.
Greenpeace makes a strong stand against Lenovo as a company, placing it below Apple in fourteenth position. It is Lenovo’s management of e-waste (as mentioned above) that strikes hard against this company. Lenovo has yet to put on the market products free of brominated flame retardants and PVC vinyl plastic and needs to commit to the phase out of beryllium (including alloys and compounds), antimony and its compounds and all phthalates.
ASUSTeK N10J
Although the small ASUS EEE PC has been garnering all the attention lately, it’s the ASUSTeK N10J that wins the EPEAT gold award, along with several other ASUSTek notebooks. But, either way, users can feel justified that they notebooks from ASUS — no matter how small — will be greener than many notebooks on the current market. ASUS notebooks are the first TCO’99-certified notebooks worldwide. The requirements for this honor include radiation emission control, energy (battery consumption), ecology (environment friendly) and ergonomics.
Unfortunately, owners of the EEE PC 900 faced a battery life problem, which led to great variations in reviews about the product. Other than the fact that the computer is smaller, ASUS uses the same technology for these computers as for their larger systems, which severely limits its usefulness as a green notebook. Greenpeace does not include ASUS on their report for September 2008.
OLPC XO
Perhaps the greenest laptop on the market isn’t designed for adult individual users or for corporation applications. The OLPC XO was designed collaboratively by experts from academia and industry with the real world in mind. They considered everything from extreme environmental conditions to technological issues such as local language support. Its LiFePO4 or NiMH batteries contain no toxic heavy metals, plus it features enhanced battery management for an extended recharge-cycle lifetime. It will also tolerate alternate power-charging sources, such as car batteries. XO is fully compliant with the European Union’s RoHS Directive, so it contains no hazardous materials.
According to the OLPC Web site, “Experience shows that laptop components most likely to fail are the hard drive and internal connectors. Therefore, XO has no hard drive to crash and only two internal cables. For added robustness, the machine’s plastic walls are 2mm thick, as opposed to the standard 1.3mm. Its wireless antennas, which far outperform the typical laptop, double as external covers for the USB ports, which are protected internally as well. The display is also cushioned by internal “bumpers.” The estimated product lifetime is at least five years.”
Ironically, the OLPC XO has not been rated by EPEAT or by Greenpeace; but, then again, this computer was designed for children who are located in the poorest parts of the world.
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