With nearly everything from diapers to cereal boxes getting the “green” stamp, it makes sense that when you purchase something as important and costly as a laptop that you will want to consider its environmental impact. But what makes a laptop green beyond a company just saying so and flaunting it in commercials?
The Green Electronics Council has made easy to pinpoint green notebooks with EPEAT, (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool). The tool ranks laptops on their environmental impact, in materials, packaging, energy consumption, and more, using discrete and detailed criteria. Depending on how many of these requirements are met, the council gives them a Gold, Silver, or Bronze rating.
Everything from how the laptop is made to how it can be recycled helps a notebook move a step closer to being green. These five factors not only help EPEAT consider how green a notebook is, but can help you too.
1. Lower power consumption.
Energy Star rates products for energy efficiency and evaluates laptops and their power consumption. Taken into consideration when rating a notebook is the power management in three operating modes: standby, sleep, and in use. LED-backlit displays help decrease power draw, using 30 percent less power than conventional LCD displays. Energy Star–compliant computers must also have more efficient internal power supplies. You can use the Energy Star search tool on www.energystar.gov to look up a specific model laptop by brand and name.
2. Use of environmentally sensitive materials.
The materials used in the manufacturing of a laptop are essential in assessing its greenness. EPEAT often refers to Europe's RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive) standard for assessing the most hazardous substances in consumer electronics when evaluating laptops. Specifically the use of environmentally hazardous materials such as cadmium, mercury, lead, hexavalent chromium, flame retardants, plasticizers, and PVC are discouraged. Additionally laptop batteries must be free of lead, cadmium, and mercury.
3. Product life span and cycle extension.
If you buy a laptop and its parts are outdated after six months, you would only be creating waste. EPEAT rates how easy it is to upgrade a notebook with parts, including RAM and hard drive, without the need of professional assistance. Also taken into account is the laptop’s warranty. The organization requires that all notebooks have the option of an additional three-year warranty or service agreement available to buyers.
4. Eco-Friendly notebook packaging.
Not only do the laptop’s materials contribute to its greenness, but its packaging can have an impact as well. The consolidation of packaging plays into the evaluation, but so do the materials those boxes and protective pieces are made out of. EPEAT standards require that heavy metals not be added to any packaging or packing component. Many manufacturers, including Apple and HP, have started using recyclable materials to produce laptop packaging.
5. Design for end of life.
It is estimated that Americans dump more than 19 thousand tons of laptops a year. How those laptops are broken down and get recycled is part of end-of-life management assessment. The greenest notebooks are those that do not contain paints and coatings on larger plastic parts that are not recyclable or reusable. EPEAT requires that laptop manufacturers include the option to purchase a take-back or recycling service. Additionally they require the same service be available for the laptop’s battery.
