How green is your computer?

By Joseph De Avila

The Wall Street Journal

Sherry Conrad and her family want to reduce their carbon footprint. They use reusable shopping bags and buy organic clothes and organic food. When it was time to get a new computer, Conrad opted for Dell’s new eco-friendly desktop called the Studio Hybrid.

“It’s made from recycled parts. It uses a whole lot less energy, which helps everybody nowadays,” said Conrad, a stay-at-home mom from Conway, Ark.

Computer manufacturers, chip makers and software companies are developing  products for environmentally conscious consumers. While some tech companies are developing more energy-efficient product lines, others are releasing software to make existing computers consume less. And electronics manufacturers are expanding ways to make new computers out of recycled materials, as well as encourage customers to recycle old machines. Consumers may pay a slight premium for some eco-friendly electronics, but many prices will be comparable with traditional offerings.

Several factors are pushing companies to be greener. Many want to stay ahead of environmental legislation and to garner favor with green investors, said Christopher Mines, an analyst with Forrester Research. And with higher energy prices , they are trying to appeal to people such as Conrad, who are looking for ways to chip away at expenses.

Forrester surveyed 5,000 U.S. adults and found that 12 percent are willing to pay extra for electronics that use less energy or are made by an environmentally friendly company. Companies think this number will grow, Mines said. “They are looking to polish up their image with consumers.”

The computer industry has been working on improving energy consumption for years, said Katharine Kaplan, of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star  program. “The newer focus has been on toxins and recycling.”

In its latest line of ThinkPad laptops, for example, Lenovo Group  uses 10  to 25 percent recycled plastics harvested from water bottles, said Howard Locker, the company’s director of new technology.

Last month, Intel introduced new chips that it says will speed up computing performance without sucking up additional power. The company also recently developed technology, called Remote Wake, to keep computers in a low-energy mode until users need them for retrieving files over the Internet, said Lorie Wigle, the general manager for eco-technology at Intel.

Hewlett-Packard has developed a new feature called Auto-On/Auto-Off that puts inactive printers into a sleep mode and can quickly power back up once they are used again. This feature will be added to H-P’s personal desktop laser printers in 2009, said Pat Tiernan, H-P’s vice president of social and environmental responsibility.

Attention to manufacturing materials is a priority, Tiernan said. Early this year, H-P introduced its Deskjet D2545 , an ink-jet printer that is made of  83 percent recycled plastics.

While the industry has made advancements, it’s still far from perfect. In its latest Guide to Greener Electronics, environmental-advocacy group Greenpeace said that none of the 18 electronics companies reviewed scored higher than 5 out of 10 possible points for being green.

One area where the industry needs to improve  is in the life span of its products. “They are designed for obsolescence,” said Casey Harrell, an expert on toxins and electronic  waste with Greenpeace. Electronics companies need to make it easier to offer replacement parts, upgrades and improved warranty plans, he said.

There still aren’t many simple options for consumers to find impartial data on how green a product is. David Lear, Dell’s director of worldwide environmental affairs, acknowledges challenges that consumers face when shopping for a PC.

 “If you are buying an automobile, it’s what’s your miles per gallon?” There isn’t an equivalent for computers, he adds. So far, manufacturers have not established a universal labeling system to indicate the production materials and efficiency of every product.

The EPA’s Energy Star program aims to help consumers find energy-efficient products. The program certifies hundreds of consumer products for energy efficiency. The products must meet requirements in three different operating modes: standby, active and sleep modes. Shoppers can go to www.energystar.gov  for information on about 800 computers in the market that meet these guidelines.

Experts say that keeping your old computer out of the landfill is better for the environment than buying a new one. But older machines can be energy hogs.

There are software programs consumers can download to reduce the juice that their computer uses. One, called EZ Wizard, is a free download available on the Energy Star Web site. It works only for computers running Windows 2000 or Windows XP.  Google Desktop  users can download  Energy Saver, a free application that works on machines that run Windows XP and Vista. And Verdiem, a Seattle-based company that makes energy-management software for businesses, recently released Edison, a consumer-grade version of its software. It’s free and works with Windows Vista and Windows XP.

Once it’s time to get rid of that old computer, there are options for consumers to dispose of it responsibly. Most computer manufacturers have recycling programs. Some are better than others.

Dell recycles any of its products free. Consumers who buy a Dell PC can have their old computer recycled regardless of the manufacturer, too. Lenovo charges consumers $30, including shipping, to recycle a computer made by any manufacturer. In exchange, consumers get a $50 rebate to buy Lenovo products.

Apple has a free recycling program for its old computers. The company will also recycle old computers and monitors from other manufacturers with the purchase of a new Mac.

Electronics retailers Best Buy and Circuit City Stores both have programs that allow customers to trade in their electronics for store credit.

There are some options for consumers to get cash back for their gadgets, too. Tech Forward , a Los Angeles-based financial-services company that works with electronics recyclers, lets consumers lock in a trade-in value for their devices. The company will begin selling plans through electronics retailer  TigerDirect and CompUSA soon .

Here’s how it works: For $59 a customer can lock in a trade-in value for Apple’s Mac Pro desktop, for example. Customers who send in their computer within six months will get $540 back. Those who send theirs in from 18 months to two years from now will get $370 back. The cost of the plan and the amount paid back depends on the device and when it is sent in to be recycled.

Tony Barnes, a program manager for a software company who lives in Medford, Mass., bought a plan from TechForward last year for his iPod Nano. He bought the plan because he goes through a lot of gadgets and doesn’t have the time to resell them on sites such as eBay, he said. “It seems like a responsible way to dispose of this.”