Not so idle: HP earns green transport logo for business products

It takes more than better attention to energy-efficiency or attention to materials to classify some gadget or another as green tech. That's why Hewlett-Packard has made a concerted effort to have its products vetted as part of the Environmental Protection Agency's SmartWay logo program, which focuses on the fuel consumption and emissions profiles of the transportation companies used to move products around the country and the world.

There are about 950 SmartWay Transport partners, all of which have undertaken to support the EPA's goal of reducing annual carbon emissions produced by the freight industry to 66 million tons per year by 2012. Currently, this segment of the economy produces about 99 million tons of carbon dioxide per year. The program also focuses on cutting nitrogen oxide emissions. Theoretically, the industry could save about 150 million barrels of oil if it achieve its goal, which I am sure is also a welcome goal considering the price of diesel fuel.

HP actually was the first company to earn the SmartWay logo back in April, although the logo certification applied strictly to its consumer accessories, desktops and monitors. But earlier this month, HP qualified all the shipping partners for its business desktops, monitors, notebooks, servers, storage products, thin clients, workstations and all its imaging and printing products. In short, the works when it comes to its business products. HP's logistics team is working on qualifying additional products in the near future.