Though it’s unlikely any console gamer will switch to the PS3 based on advice from Greenpeace, last month’s Guide to Greener Electronics (pdf link) shows Sony doing relatively well in the drive toward less toxic, more sustainable gadgetry. They’re still far behind the reigning champions at Nokia, but Nintendo and Microsoft are struggling to climb up from the bottom.
- Oh, Nintendo. Power up!
The report is as quick to praise as it is to condemn (quicker, actually). Nintendo’s last place mention comes with a note that they’re doing a better job of not filling their gear with poison, so good on them.
The Stranger Testing Department is Rob Lightner and Paul Hughes.
Didn’t Paul actually call their ratings techniques into question earlier this week?
shh, @1. don’t ruin a good story.
A lot of this has to do with enforceable regulation and law in the locations for production, mind you.
When it comes to the energy efficiency of game consoles, Sony is dead last and Nintendo is far ahead.
http://www.nrdc.org/energy/consoles/file…
@3 how many coal-fired plants and oil-spawned terrorists died to fuel your 42 inch 1080p plasma HDTV set you run your PS3 with … bet it’s a lot more than my 22 inch DTV set with a Wii …
(caveat – I own 200 shares of Nintendo and have owned shares of Sony and Microsoft before)
I don’t think it makes sense to rate companies, but rather products. And clarifies what they mean by “green” — is it more important to use fewer toxic materials, fewer rare minerals mined by slaves, less manufacturing energy, less usage energy, less recyclability, what?
Will raises a good point, however ineptly. The percentage of total energy use that goes just to TVs has tripled in recent years, and is now something north of 8 or 9 percent of all electricity. That’s a crisis position right there. One giant plasma screen offsets the good of a hell of a lot of Prius miles and reusable bags. Also, no one who discards one of the 100 million or so working cell phones that get tossed into the landfill in the US every year gets to brag about their green, no matter what kind of idiot game system they run.
Gadgets aren’t green, period.
@5 – yeah, but a solar-powered Prius with a 52 inch plasma screen in it, now that’s what I call a car camping set!
Nintendo at least was rated low because of it’s failure to disclose information, not because of it’s actual practices.
nokia achieved this high rating across the board recently. although their gadgets work very well, including the gaminess!