Green IT Edge » Helena Nordin

Learning from the Korean Green IT strategy

Helena Nordin — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 15:02:17 +0000

After a recent visit to South Korea and the TCO Certified customers in the region I can only agree with this report about a Korean Green IT strategy! As I´ve written in earlier posts there is a great risk that the European lead in the environmental field has come to an end and that the new leaders in Green IT are in the Asian region.

Learning from the Korean Green IT strategy

IFA in Berlin – Samsung launches more TCO certified notebooks

Helena Nordin — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 07:29:48 +0000

If you are planning on visiting the ongoing IFA show in Berlin this weekend don´t forget to visit the Samsung booth! They will be launching a number of new notebooks and netbooks and some of them are just recently TCO certified. Today at 13.00 they are giving a press conference at IFA about the new models.
See Database for all TCO certified notebooks so far.

Seven sins of Green Wash

Helena Nordin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 20:17:27 +0000

If you haven´t yet read the report from the Canadian organisation Terra Choice about Green Wash I strongly recommend to spend some time on it. If you are involved in Green marketing of products or services or operate an eco-label there are a lot of interesting facts and conclusions about Green marketing. Terra Choice concludes that as much as 98% of all Green claims comit at least on of the seven sins of Green Wash! http://www.sinsofgreenwash.com.

Help in the green jungle!

Helena Nordin — Tue, 26 May 2009 15:13:38 +0000

All of you working with designing IT equipment are well aware of the enourmous work task to keep track on all the different regulations and product standards out there. Most IT products are designed for an international market and therefore need to comply with the fast moving market of environmental legislation globally. Just one example is the European Directive called RoHS (Restrictions on Hazardous Substances) that came in to force in 2006 that now is being implemented all over the world with similar but not exactly the same legislation. To just understand the small differences between China RoHS and the European RoHS takes a lot of time to evaluate and then to feel confident that your product will comply with both of them is also a costly and time consuming process. And with the focus on Green IT and Global warming there is no doubt that we will see much more of environmental legislation in the future.

Luckily there are today internet based tools to help you sort this out! One of them is the Irish based company Compliance and Risks with their tool called C2P (Compliance to Products) http://www.complianceandrisks.com/. On top of monitoring all the different national legislations world wide you will from now on also be able to follow all what is happening with the TCO Certified standards we develop! TCO Development was recently assigned Data Partner to Compliance and Risks and will regularly update their database with all relevant information about TCO Certified.

Green IT- China taking the lead?

Helena Nordin — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 07:51:01 +0000

Is China the new Green IT powerhouse ? This might sound strange, but it’s a message we’re hearing more and more – that Europe and in particular the Nordic countries, which have for many years led the field in energy efficiency, Green IT and action against climate change, are now losing that advantage. China and USA are now increasingly talked about as the new leaders in environmental innovation .

While Europe has long been regarded as the pioneer in environmental legislation and adaption, several Asian nations are now showing faster and more powerful ambitions in their transition towards becoming a low carbon society! And with the new administration in the USA we hope to see a new example of how powerful the American giant can be once it´s awake.
When it comes to Green IT my personal reflection is that it would be very positive if China, a hub of computer and display design and manufacture, will take the lead and drive environmental design to the next level! A computer designed for minimal climate impact will then benefit computer users all over the world and lead to a more sustainable IT usage.

TCO Development has, since almost 5 years, representation in the Chinese region, with our office in Taiwan. Since most of our customers to TCO Certified today are Asian companies we have been able to follow the development in the region and seen the shift from the western world towards China when it comes to design and manufacturing of ICT hardware.
One example of how TCO Certified is presented in China is the upcoming conference in Shanghai 7-8 May, “Green Product and Business Forum”. My colleague Martin Söderberg will talk about Green IT and how TCO labelled products are part of the development towards a Green IT society, http://www.ecovane.cn. Look for Martin’s blog post about the event.