Apple launched the iPad claiming it is is free of arsenic, BFR (Brominated Flame Retardants), mercury, and PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride). Greenpeace recently recognized Apple as the consumer electronics company that has done the most to eliminate harmful chemicals from its products. (Why it is important to eliminate PVC/BFR from e-gear).

The "Environmental Status Report" on the lower left of the iPad tech specs page touts its "recyclable aluminum and glass enclosure", but the iPad is not yet included in the "Apple Recycling Program". Presumably, there will not be a pressing need to recycle iPads for a while. It's another story if irrational exuberance in iPad consumption accelerates the disposal of older devices.

Apple has not issued a "Product Environmental Report" for the iPad as it has for other products.

There appears to be little consistent information for evaluating manufacturer claims about green phones and other mobile devices. Here's what we found.

Here's a guide to go about finding the greenest e-gear. It's not as easy as it sounds!

Proposed California Energy Commission (CEC) regulations to improve television set energy efficiency by 49% could mean significant changes to its consumer electronics market and possibly that of the United States as a whole. This activity comes at a time when the International Energy Agency is expressing concern about the energy/carbon implications of global television set ownership soaring past the two billion level.

How much gear is attached to the edges of our global ICT infrastructure? Our estimate yields almost 11 billion in-service items, mostly driven by household use.

E-devices are so pervasive in our lives that we might not consider the full potential of personal e-waste reduction. The British weighed in with a law that, according to Discover magazine, expands the e-waste definition to include electrical 'adult toys'. Individual manufacturers are also offering green devices.

Earth Hour is an initiative sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and others to raise awareness about global warming by asking individuals, municipalities, and businesses to turn off their lights for one hour (8:30PM local time, 28 Mar). Turning off our personal computers and e-devices appears to be a more complicated issue.

"Consumer electronics is the fastest-growing source of electricity use in people's homes," says the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). "It's now up to 15 or 20 percent." Video game consoles are the latest devices to come under energy use scrutiny. "Today, more than 40 percent of all homes in the United States contain at least one video game console . . .they consumed an estimated 16 billion kilowatt-hours per year -- roughly equal to the annual electricity use of the city of San Diego. Through the incorporation of more user-friendly power management features, we could save approximately 11 billion kWh of electricity per year, cut our nation's electricity bill by more than $1 billion per year, and avoid emissions of more than 7 million tons of CO2 each year." Until the industry steps improves its devices' power management, "gamers can significantly reduce the energy consumed by their consoles through simple steps like turning off the console when not actively playing a game or watching a movie and enabling power management features when available." Visit the NRDC's consoles page to read the comprehensive report, Lowering the Cost of Play by Noah Horowitz, and to learn how to enable power management features on existing consoles.

[Thank you to NRDC's Anthony Clark for providing graph.]

Consumer Reports (10/08, p 26) compares a 14" 1938 B&W TV with a 50" 2008 plasma unit. Both consume 250 watts of power, which suggests that super-sizing television monitors is offsetting improvements in circuitry. The good news (p23) is that a similar size LCD unit consumes less than 60% of that power. Click here for more on television monitors.