carbon-neutral technology
A company called 3PAR is promoting a new idea in computer hardware. When you buy one of their products, they automatically include carbon offsets [1] for the energy it will use. The products themselves aren’t exactly everyday consumer items, but I can see this idea catching on as manufacturers realize that green values can be a differentiator.
[thanks for the link, Adam!]
[1] Wikipedia has more info on carbon offsets. They’re controversial, but I personally think they do real good and raise awareness. If people start thinking about the amount of energy something uses as an added up-front cost, it helps make efficiency part of the buying decision.
Posted by Chris in Environment, Technology on January 26th, 2007 Edit this page's grammar and spelling with Emend.
It looks like Dell does something similar: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/10/technology/10dell.html?ex=1326085200en=db0140127eda4f4bei=5088partner=rssnytemc=rss
I read about this in Time, too. They offer customers the chance to spend $2 more for a laptop or $6 more for a desktop PC to plant a tree to offset the carbon emissions. They also offer free hardware recycling. I would always pick a Mac over a PC (I’d rather just go donate to a plant-a-tree organization) but it’s pretty keen, nonetheless.