Thursday, October 2, 2008

Buying a greener laptop

I'm not sure when it happened - it may have been when I downloaded the season premiere of Grey's Anatomy or uploaded the umpteenth picture of the Babe that finally did it - but my much loved Sony Vaio laptop seems to be kicking the bucket. It keeps powering down and sending me low virtual memory messages that read like a Dear John letter. It might just be time to get some more memory. Or a Mac.

At the Consumer Electronics Show last year, green was the word on the street. Manufacturers of all stripes introduced energy efficient technologies for the home, the car and in personal electronics. Not much of a techie myself, I'm finding it a bit hard to research laptops that might have some green credentials.

This past June, Greenpeace released their annual electronics guide.
The guide "ranks leading mobile phone, game console, TV and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals, taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers, and their impact on the climate. Companies are ranked on information that is publicly available and clarifications and communications with the companies." Sony and Sony Ericsson score the highest among dozens rated, making me feel a little sentimental about my Vaio again.

If you happen to find yourself hunting around online for new electronics or home/office supplies and want to consider a green(er) purchase, I've found that Super Warehouse features hundreds of products with EPA Energy Star certification. For many of us today, we're trying to find simple solutions to cut down on our overall energy consumption. I remember back in the day when Mom's washing machine had the gleaming blue star on it. I was floored by the wide range of electronics that now feature the seal. Buying products with the Energy Star is the easiest way to feel good about your purchases.

I performed two searches against Super Warehouse's vast inventory: one using the term "environmentally friendly" and another with just the acronym "EPA". Both searches called up hundreds of products: color laser printers from dozens of manufacturers including Brothers, whose products feature a reduced size and smaller footprint; HP scanners for all those pics of the Babe; Apple laptops and yes, even the newer Sony Vaios.

For a list of categories that feature the Energy Star go to: EnergyStar.gov

Happy Searching!

3 comments:

Tori Higa said...

i just found your fun blog! such great info - and very inspirational...

Lori Ann said...

Just found you through the Mom Bloggers Club. Subscribing through my reader to stay updated! Sounds like a great idea for a blog!

Sustainababe said...

thanks lori ann! i'm signing up to read your blog as well!