Green Gauge October 2007
From Lauraibm
Full story: 5 Signs The Computer Industry Is Finally Going Green
There have been several recent developments coming from the high-tech sector which demonstrate that the computing industry is gradually finding a green conscience. Such initiatives include;
- Dell’s plan to be carbon neutral by 2008
- Solar powered workstations
- Green data centres
- USB 3.0, set to become available in 2009, promising energy savings
- The Climate Savers Computing Initiative aims to reduce computer energy use by 90% by 2010; this is expected to provide a saving of $5.5 billion in energy costs.
Full story: BP Team with MIT for Clean Energy Research (28-Sep-07)
BP has signed a 5 year commitment to the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Energy Initiative; the pair aim to explore ways of transforming materials such as coal into electricity, liquid fuels and chemicals with the hope of slashing carbon dioxide emissions.
Full story: Companies Decide to go Green (1-Oct-07)
Greenpeace released its "Guide to Greener Electronics" in September 2007, which ranked 14 manufacturers of computers and mobile phones according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.
The company rankings are in descending order: Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Dell, Lenovo, LG, Sony, Fujitsu-Siemens, Samsung, Motorola, Toshiba, Acer, Apple, HP and Panasonic.
Nokia has been on the top of the ladder since August 2006. Lenovo who has moved up the ladder from the lowest rank in August 2006 now ranks fourth. At the bottom of the ladder are Panasonic, HP and Apple.
HP is now in 13th place down from 6th. It has weakened its support for individual producer responsibility. It was the first company to devise an electronic waste take-back/recycling metric based on a percentage of sales, yet it has failed to provide timelines for the complete elimination of PVC (Plastic Polyvinyl Chloride) and all BFRs (Brominated Flame Retardants).
Full story: Don't Wait on Green IT to Spruce Up Data Centres, Experts Say (1-Oct-07)
Experts in the IT industry have recommended that companies make simple reconfigurations to their IT hardware to help free up energy and space in the data centre. They have been advised not to wait for advanced technologies to take root due to a lack of guidance from the federal level which is likely to cause a slow in the pace of innovation on the energy-efficiency front.
Full story: Electronics Companies Green up Their Acts (19-Sep-07)
Greenpeace has launched its latest edition of a “Guide to Greener Electronics”; the changes show that many major electronics firms have made huge improvements since the guide was first launched in August 2006. Not only have the companies that were ranked near the bottom of the previous edition made improvements to move up the table, but companies not even featured in the ranking have made improvements in their policies with the aim of being greener. In fact, the only company seen to fall in each of the rankings is Hewlett Packard.
The initiative has also seen many improvements in company practice since August 2006; with a number of companies now offering free take back programs for old electronics. There has also been an increase in the number of products available without the worst toxic chemicals e.g. PVC plastic.
These results demonstrate the effectiveness of publicly comparing the performance of these companies to help make improvements in environmental policies.
