Greenpeace has been making a lot of noise lately with its attacks on Apple for using
nasty stuff in the iPhone and in general for not being very green. Apple is implementing plans for
getting greener, and now it seems Greenpeace is moving on to, well, greener pastures, attacking a whole boatload of tech companies with its
latest Guide to Greener Electronics.
The guide rates electronics manufacturers based largely on their commitment to recycling old gear and reducing the use of toxic compounds in new stuff. This is the first time Greenpeace has chosen to include Nintendo in the list, and it has ranked the
Wii-maker dead last -- not because the motion-sensing abilities of the Wiimotes are powered by globs of toxic waste, but instead simply because the company doesn't provide any information about things such as what it's doing for recycling and when it plans to phase out the use of PVC.
Nintendo's competitor in the video game battle, Microsoft, is also new to the list and also scores low, though slightly better than Nintendo, thanks to having a plan for phasing out the use of PVC and other materials that result in the creation of toxic compounds. Sony, the third player in the current console war, scores much higher in the green rankings thanks largely to its acceptance of expired electronics from Japanese consumers for recycling.
We here at Switched find this ordering somewhat confusing. Sony's console, the
PlayStation 3, is by far the most power hungry of the three,
drawing 200-plus watts of electricity when playing games. Microsoft's
Xbox 360 averages a somewhat more efficient 145 watts, while Nintendo's Wii uses just 15-20 watts, which is less than 10-percent of the power of Sony's machine! Yet Nintendo is ranked as the worst electronics maker on the planet? We think Greenpeace should care a little more about the pollution caused by power generation.
Top of the charts was Sony's celly spin-off Sony Ericsson, which has already phased out the use of PVC to a large extent, while most others are still just thinking about it.
From
Greenpeace (via
Engadget)Related Links:
Sounds like that rumor about a new, smaller Xbox 360 coming next year might have a shorter life than a red-ringing console. Specifying the release of "slimmed down SKU in 2009", Microsoft representative let us know today that "While we don't normally comment on rumors like this, we can tell you that we have no plans to release a new console in 2009". Yep, rumor assassinated, just like that. Of course, there still exists the possibility that Microsoft's just playing coy to prevent a little bit of Osborne effect from creeping in during their heated battle with the PS3 -- but they did go out of their way to directly comment on the rumor, so take it as you will.
