Underwriter Laboratories (UL) recently issued the first laptop Gold Standard award for Sustainable Product Certification to the Lenovo ThinkPad T420. One of the most prestigious safety and rating organizations in the market, the UL recommendation adds a little bit of green to the new computer. Looking at the entire life of the product, manufacturing to recyclable potential, the ThinkPad T420 went through a series of tests before being certified.
UL held the laptop to the Institue of Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) 1680.1 standards, and that fact that the ThinkPad T420 is made from 10% post-consumer-content, mostly water-bottles, helped it in that category. The other necessary test for the new laptop to pass was on energy efficiency. The ThinkPad exceeded Energy Star 5.0 standard by less than 10%, but more than enough to qualify as part of the UL’s determining factors.
Lenovo has been losing favor in some green consumers’ opinions in recent years, but the latest news should help, at least in terms of the ThinkPad as a sustainable product. Sustainability aside, the new laptop is impressive as a portable device. Claiming 15 hours use based of a 9-cell battery, the computer has enough life for even the longest of workdays. And at $779, the ThinkPad is competitive in price compared to similar machines.
Hopefully the latest UL award will propel Lenovo and other computer companies to consider their production materials. Earlier this year, Apple was suspected of having pollution problems in China. The more demands consumers make in terms of sustainable business practices, the faster the market will adapt to those standards. And while more people are focused on green practices when it comes to transportation and energy, too few are concerned with the impact computers are having on our planet.
Source: earthtechling
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