Apple's supply chain is the subject of increasing media scrutiny, most recently in a series of articles in the New York Times. CEO Tim Cook, in a letter to Apple employees posted on 9to5mac.com, seems to imply that the company was being singled out unfairly. "Unfortunately some people are questioning Apple’s values today…Any suggestion that we don’t care is patently false and offensive to us. We know of no one in our industry doing as much as we are, in as many places, touching as many people. At the same time, no one has been more up front about the challenges we face."

Hewlett Packard's Global Citizenship site analyzes conflict minerals within the global supply chain for ICT gear. "The minerals supply chain is long, complex, and involves several layers: from mining, through in-country traders and exporters, to smelters, refiners/metal exchanges/alloy producers, and finally to component and other manufacturers (see graphic). The smelter is a critical control point, because it is the stage where minerals from many sources are processed to produce a refined metal."

Oracle's latest Next Generation Data Centre Index compares today's situation ("C2") with that of a year ago ("C1") for Europe and the Middle East. Findings are positive but mixed from a Green ICT perspective.

Five manufacturers now have products in the EPEAT database for China. This represents ~400 models of computers and monitors. The manufacturers are HP/Compaq, Lenovo, NEC, Oracle/Sun, and TPV. Lenovo and TPV are Chinese companies.

ICT products manufacturer Quanta (Taiwan) supplies servers to Facebook and Google, cloud computing giants that spec their own server designs. It is also an investor in multi-core U.S. chip innovator Tilera. These relationships points to the possibility for a new generation of energy-efficient volume servers for cloud computing.

Standards for Green ICT gear and the accompanying databases of qualified models are invaluable tools for organizations striving for more sustainable purchasing practices. One challenge is that technology innovation and sustainability awareness evolve very rapidly while standards processes move very slowly. The ENRGY STAR for Data Center Products program of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is a case in point.

Fifteen manufacturers offer ENERGY STAR® qualified servers. Cisco and Huawei (China) are the latest. Hitachi and Wipro appear to no longer offer qualified models.

An insightful article at Politico examines the lobbying surrounding SOPA and PIPA. An accompanying graph, below, reveals that the Entertainment industry has outspent the Internet industry in Congress by almost 10X over the past two years. Also, a look at the blackout's potential impact on energy consumption.

IBM Research announced that it has created 1 bit of storage out of just 12 atoms. "The computer you're working on stores one bit of data in about 1 million atoms. With atomic-scale magnetic memory, 12 is the new million...By studying the behavior of atoms, researchers can identify crucial factors for building smaller, faster and more energy-efficient devices for business and consumers." Watch the video, below.

We were critical of Apple's environmental stance a couple of years ago, saying that the company was positioned to be a leader rather than a a foot-dragger. Since then, the company has made significant strides, such as improvements to its take-back recycling programs. On the downside, issues about its Chinese contract manufacturing operations have been slow to be resolved.