Apple go green to the core
The CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs, funny name I know, says he is doing the business to make Apple Mac green to the core. This isn’t my pun, it’s Greenpeace’s slogan for their campaign to make Apple a green leader in the electronics sector, and it’s called Green My Apple. This isn’t as glamorous as Pimp my Ride - Greenpeace want to see less fluorescent lights in Apple’s computer displays rather than funking them up with them, plus it gets a bit dreary when they start talking about phasing out Polyvinyl Chloride (which is the geek name for the well known PVC - I didn’t know that!)
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But the point is this – Greenpeace says Apple is living up to its eco-promises, agreeing to phasing out of the worst chemicals it uses to make its products by 2008. These include Arsenic and mercury, industry standard materials used in liquid crystal displays (LCDs). Apple is already ahead of the game, becoming the first to almost completely eliminate lead from Cathode-ray tubes (CRTs). By no longer using CRTs they have reduced the lead found in their imacs to less than 1 gram, whereas older computers could contain hundreds of grams.
Greenpeace say there is still some way to go for Apple. Customers in the US will be able to return their Apple products for recycling, avoiding the e-waste mountains of Asia and India, but Apple isn't making that promise to anyone but customers in the USA. Dell and HP have endorsed global take back policies, and HP was the first company to report recycling figures back in 2006. Neverthless, Greenpeace also points out that while Apple doesn’t have an actual green product on the market no other electronics manufacture has either, and they welcome Apple’s positive step, calling it a clear change in policy by Apple.
I'm curious how you think Apple (or and PC notebook manufacturer) is "funking ... up" their displays with the flourescent light panel.
If you are referring to the lit white apple logo on the reverse of the screen, it is using the same panel that lights the screen - in other words it is using a waste product of using the currently available technology. No extra energy or materials are required for this 'feature'.
Apple (and most PC notebook manufacturers) will be moving to replace the backlighting with LEDs very soon - some already are.
Posted by: Michael | June 4, 2007 10:20 AM