Bound for the garbage heap?

What’s more important to you: A gleaming, sleek computer, or knowing that your purchases are eco-friendly?

Apple is gambling that consumer addiction to its famously beautiful products will outweigh the fact that it recently dropped out of a voluntary green electronics certification program, called EPEAT. The Wall Street Journal reports that last month Apple asked EPEAT to pull its desktop computers, laptops and monitors from the registry. EPEAT certifies that electronics are recyclable, maximize energy efficiency and minimize environmental harm.

It was a controversial move on Apple’s part, made even stranger by the fact that Apple helped create the program in the first place. The program is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers, but its standards were formed jointly with Apple, advocacy groups and government agencies. When Apple removed all 39 of its computers from the registry, they were, in effect, refusing to comply with the very standards that they helped to formulate.

Apple won’t confirm publicly why they pulled their products off the registry. Numerous sources speculate that the newest Macbook Pro with the “Retina” display—which debuted just about a month ago—failed to meet EPEAT standards. The laptop is almost impossible to disassemble, because its battery is glued to both the case and the glass display. EPEAT’s standards require that the product be easy to disassemble with common tools in order to remove toxic products, like a battery.

It’s hard to imagine that a move like this wouldn’t hurt Apple’s sales. U.S. law states that 95% of electronics purchases made by federal agencies must be EPEAT-certified. EPEAT doesn’t certify tablets or phones, so government agencies can still purchase iPhones and iPads. But more forward-thinking cities might follow the example of San Francisco, which recently stated that no government officials will purchase any Apple products. Moreover, dozens of prestigious universities require that their purchases be EPEAT-certified. Cornell and the University of California-Berkeley are already reviewing their Apple purchases.

But despite withdrawal, Apple is still far ahead of the curve in terms of environmental transparency. If you’re nervous about your newly un-certified MacBook, check out Apple’s environmental reports here.

UPDATE: Apple admitted they goofed. (Thanks to Capri Rasmussen for the tip-off).

Image: jaudrius.

The post Apple Addicts Choose A Sleek Design Over Environmental Responsibility appeared first on EcoSalon.

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a gadget geek’s dream date and the source of many tech news “leaks,” debuts and reviews. So why were green issues apparently under wraps as the world’s biggest tech executives made early keynote speeches there, on the mainstage of the trendsetting tradeshow, Wednesday?

Nobody was asking – or so it seemed – green questions, discussing environmental issues or highlighting eco-friendly features of the technologies on display. Not live, on blogs or in broadcasts. And certainly not in detail.

Microsoft executives, for example, hyped their gaming projects for 2010 including the release of a “prequel” game Halo: Reach, part of the wildly popular Halo franchise. But they didn’t say how many physical copies of the game they expected to manufacture, and if these included recyclable components.

Earlier, CNN syndicated a feature story by Ben Parr of Mashable predicting TV on computers, 3-D in your home, a range of increasingly smart mobile phones and e-book readers would be among the technology concepts out of CES 2010 to effect consumers worldwide, for years to come.

Great insights! But where are the eco-details? Like: how greenly manufactured (or not) were those 3-D TVs by Sony, or the super thin ones by LG? How enduring are those armies of new e-book readers, and are they lower impact than used books or books from recycled paper?

It’s frustrating that “green” aspects of new products don’t appear to be as important as gigabytes and screen size by now in general and tech trade media. Consumers care. As EcoSalon previously reported, consumer demand for green gadgets is strong in the U.S.

At least NBC Universal, the official broadcast partner of CES 2010, assigned morning news man Al Roker to a segment on national television where he discussed, with Fast Company’s Paul Hochman, several items from exhibitors including the Regen Renu, a 9×9, sweetly designed solar panel that when fully charged can power an iPod for six hours.

To be fair, there was a reference to nature reported by Gizmodo’s live-blog summing up the Sony keynote speech when executives promised a 3-D version of Shark Week – brought to us by Discovery and IMAX (for viewing on a Sony set).

Even with lackluster discussion early on at CES concerning the environmental impact of mainstream gadgets, the executive director of the Green Electronics Council, and the Electronic Products Environmental Asessment Tool (EPEAT, pronounced like “repeat”) Jeff Omelchuck has high hopes of CES and the people who pay attention to it.

EPEAT is a green standards and ratings organization for the computer, laptop and display industries, that could do for electronics what LEED did for buildings, or the Motion Picture Association did by rating movies, namely to make them easier to understand before buying (or selling).

Omelchuck explained Wednesday afternoon, upon arriving to Las Vegas, that he expected to see more discussion – and marketing – of green aspects of the technology on display by this year’s conference end.

“Consumers are getting smarter,” Omelchuck said, “Brands can no longer say things like “˜we’re energy efficient compared to ourselves last year,’ or “˜this is made from some recyclable materials,’ and convince a consumer their product is green. The manufacturers are recognizing they have to meet stronger criteria. Before there was really no historical market data to prove demand for greener electronics existed. Each year our understanding gets better.”

We hope it gets so much better that a separate Greener Gadgets show held by the same conference organizers, the Consumer Electronics Association, won’t even be necessary someday. Though, this year’s takes place in Manhattan, Feb. 25th.

Love gadgets but hate e-waste and greenwash, too? Read up on CES, and e-waste issues below. Then, let manufacturers and bloggers know “green” should be a priority as high or higher than any other cool factor when it comes to new tech toys.

Basic Reading:

“No matter how cynical most may be right now about eco-friendly electronics, eventually everyone attending will have green ingrained in their heads.”- A blog post via Treehugger entitled “CES 2010 A Steaming Pile of Hypocrisy? Does it really matter?”

“Computing will play a role in protecting our planet from climate change and other environmental issues”¦There are over 250 million cars in the U.S. alone and the latest ones have more computing power on them than our first manned rocket ships providing opportunities to help drivers avoid traffic jams, [and] offering real-time tips for efficient driving”¦We also need to ensure that we improve the efficiency of PCs.” -A blog post by Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer for Huffington Post, ahead of his CES 2010 keynote speech

“EPEAT, an eco-label for consumer electronics, has”¦existed behind the scenes as a business-to-business eco-rating system helping giants like the U.S. Federal government purchase low impact computers. Now, EPEAT is going business-to-consumer, making their bronze, silver and gold ratings publicly available as a reference point for shoppers”¦” – A Core77 feature story on EPEAT and eco-ratings of computers and other electronics

Further Resources:

The home page of EPEAT, which stands for Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool

An eWeekEurope.com news feature about Greenpeace’s efforts to stop the illegal shipping of ewaste to developing nations

Gizmodo’s “The Best of CES 2010” special section

Live, streaming video of CES 2010 events via Crunchgear

Engadget’s coverage of CES 2010 news, events and products

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This is the latest installment of EcoMeme, a column featuring eco news, tech and business highlights by columnist Lora Kolodny.

The post EcoMeme: Media Missing the Green Point at CES 2010 appeared first on EcoSalon.