Lenovo, Toshiba earn props in second annual Greenpeace green tech survey

The green tech police at Greenpeace have published their Green Electronics Survey 2008, which considers the credentials of approximately 50 products submitted by 15 major consumer electronics and computing vendors. Not exactly a total world view, but you can find out how some of the better-known brands in the world fare in terms of sustainability policy: not just for their products, but for their corporate policy.

Categories covered in the report include mobile phones, televisions, computer monitors, notebook and desktop computers, and game consoles. The products were rated in four main areas: power consumption, the types of materials used in their products, recycling policies and the extent to which data is available not just about the green-ness of individual products but about the corporate sustainability policy of its maker. The highest score possible was 10.

The highest score earned in the study was for the Lenovo L2440x wide computer monitor (6.9 points); Lenovo also claimed the desktop category for its Lenovo ThinkCentre M58 Desktop (5.88 points). Incidentally, Lenovo reminded us last week that 12 of its ThinkPad laptop models, several Ideapad products, and its ThinkCentre M58 and M58p have all cleared the hurdle for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star 5.0 proposed standard for computers, which takes effect in July. It latest ThinkVision monitors have cleared the criteria for monitors.

Toshiba's Portege R600 Notebook was recognized in that category (5.57 points), while the top mobile phone was from Samsung (the Samsung F268 mobile phone earned 5.45 points). The greenest smart phone was the Nokia 6210 Navigator (5.2 points).

As you can read for yourself, no one really gets near the 10 score. What is also interesting is what companies declined to participate: Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Philips.