Tablet PCs are currently among the fastest growing trends in electronics. Growth estimates put the tablet market from an estimated 10.3 million consumers in 2010 to 208 million users by 2014.

Consumers and business users are moving to tablets for their ease of use, portability and flexibility of use through a rapidly developing “app” environment.  While tablets have been primarily marketed to consumers, professional users or “prosumers” are expected to adopt tablet technology in greater numbers in the next few years, particularly in retail, health care, finance and education settings. In 2011 an estimated 25% of tablets will be purchased for business use, double the amount seen in 2010. This number is expected to rise dramatically along with continued growth in the consumer segment.

We want to hear from you ! Our criteria draft is open for comment until October 17, so send us your comments as a manufacturer, user or sustainability professional. After the comment period we will go live with the final specifications and be open for testing and the first TCO Certified Tablets !

To us it is important to increased life length of a product since it contributes to a sustainable life style for both the user – that avoid health and safety problems, and the environment, that benefit from with less resources used and less E-waste.

Plantronics SAVI 700 Series is first with TCO Certified Headsets – a proof for a sustainable life style. Choose products with high quality and use them longer – Now it’s simple to choose headsets for a sustainable lifestyle, just choose headsets with the TCO Certified label!

makeITfair is a European project focusing on the electronics industry, especially on consumer electronics like mobile phones, laptops and MP3 players. They want to let young people across Europe know about the labor abuses and environmental problems that are going on right now around the world – just to satisfy our demand for all the latest electronic gadgets. 

Fair IT – a key factor for competitive advantage
It’s a very urgent issue that makeITfair is raising. But this is an issue that are relevant to all purchasers of IT products – not only young consumers. At TCO Development we daily discuss this issue with IT purchasers from private as well as public sector. Many organizations have understand that one of the key factors for their competitive advantage  is to have ambitious goals on social responsibility which also includes good working conditions for the labor in the manufacturing process. The company’s policy on CSR is often reflected in their purchase specifications also for IT equipment, hence Fair IT is on the agenda for professional purchasers!

Certifications a way to  influence the industry towards sustainabile IT
TCO Certified – a certification for ICT products designed for both usability and the environment, introduced in 2009 a criteria on proven commitment in social responsibility in the manufacturing process. The criteria was a first step and wasn’t particularly strict, but 1 in 4 IT brands didn’t work with these issues before and they had to start working on improving the working conditions in the manufacturing process in order to qualify for the TCO Certified certification. So by asking for TCO Certified products you can influence the industry towards sustainable IT. Next time the criteria document will be updated the  SR criteria will be stricter.  On TCO Development’s website you can read more about the criteria on social responsibility.

Pledge your support for more laptops designed for the planet
One simple action for more “green” notebooks is to show the IT industry that there are many of us who want to see more notebooks designed with the environment in mind.  On TCO Development’s website  you can show your support and take part together with companies, national authorities and individual people all over the world to influence the major computer manufacturers to offer the market more TCO certified notebooks.  Pledge your support for laptops designed for the planet.

The new TCO Certified Edge award for Outdoor Readability in Notebooks will highlight leading edge Notebooks that offer high luminance as well as superior eco-design and image performance.

Two times higher luminance for outdoor readability
A display’s performance in daylight depends primarily on the differences between the screen luminance and the reflected luminance from daylight, sunlight or similar illumination falling on the screen. To counteract the negative effect strong ambient light has on the readability of the display, notebook manufacturers have typically used anti-reflective and anti-glare treatments, but readability improves mainly by increasing the display luminance. Most Notebook displays today achieve a maximum luminance of around 200-250 cd/m² (candela per m²), which is adequate for use with indoor lighting. For outdoor use, it is recommended that a display used during overcast conditions should achieve a luminance of 500-800 cd/m², and in full sunlight 800-1000 cd/m². These higher measurements are considered bright enough for the varying illumination conditions of the outdoor environment, and may help users eliminate the need to shield or tilt the display from the reflectance in order to view the image.

High luminance – without compromises
A top performing Notebook display should also retain other critical image properties even at these high luminance settings.  Features such as contrast, greyscale and colour levels should remain constant regardless of the luminance level.  The TCO Certified Edge award for Outdoor Readability ensures this level of performance at the highest luminance setting. This award makes no compromises in our demands for high visual quality & low environmental impact whilst achieving outstanding outdoor readability performance.

What about our conscience when buying computers?
Most of the IT products sold all over the world are actually manufactured in countries such as China, the Philippines and Taiwan. The working conditions for industrial workers in these countries are often very poor, with long working days, extremely low wages and limited rights to organise themselves. Child labour is not unusual, and forced labour is known to exist. I recommend you to visit the websites of the organisations Make IT Fair and Impactt to find out more about this.

Since 2009 the TCO Certified certification program for ICT products also cover one requirement on social responsibility. The requirement means that companies who manufacture products with th TCO Certified label must demonstrate that they are proactively engaged with social responsibility as a means of improving the working conditions during the manufacturing process. This is an initial step in trying to influence the IT industry to improve working conditions for the people involved in the manufacture of IT products. Read more about the requirement on social responsibility in the TCO Certified certification. 

I would definitely prefer computers that have been produced under good working conditions, that the workers in the manufacturing process have got reasonable wages. Wouldn’t you?

The top management of NEC for Scandinavia and EMEA presented their visions and strategic directions and also new display series were launched.

At the exhibitions all frontline technology from NEC Displays solutions were demonstrated.
I found of course all the TCO Certified Projectors from NEC impressive. The new computer display MultiSync® EA222WMe with the TCO Certified Edge award for being free from halogen is a very nice example on cutting edge environmental technology.

The hottest release of the event was the introduction of NEC’s ultra thin computer display with the cool name Cool Office.

It is thin. It is cool. It is smart – it has sensors that feel when the user has left the display so it can turn to sleep mode and save lots of energy. I would say this product really proves that NEC can compete with Apple when it comes to  combine nice design with usability and green features. What do you think?

For almost 15 years, removing halogenated substances from electronic products has been an ambition of  the TCO Certified program and other advocates of environmental and human health . Halogens such as brominated and chlorinated flame retardants are proven to pose substantial risks, both to the natural environment and also to the health of animals and humans. The challenge of eliminating these substances has been to work closely with industry partners to find viable alternatives that still maintain the safety features otherwise provided by halogenated content in the product.  This long term collaboration has now brought to market the first electronic products completely free from halogenated substances.

Halogenated substances have been used as an inexpensive and simple fire retardant in electronics, textiles and other everyday products for many years. They are also commonly used as a “plasticizer” in many products, giving the product a softer, pliable character. The environmental and health problems with halogen lie in its stability and persistence. It doesn’t break down when disposed of but is actually shown to remain in plants, animals and humans, for example in fat and breast milk. It has also been shown to adversely affect hormonal function, potentially causing fertility problems.

Voluntary third party certifications such as TCO Certified can help influence the progress of green design by recognizing front runners in industry who are successful in phasing out hazardous substances. But industry-wide adoption of these practices demands that legislation includes these good design practices by tightening existing legislation. The RoHS directive has been instrumental in brining about a reduction in the use of halogenated substances and other hazardous materials in electronics. However there are still many exclusions and exceptions to RoHS, which need to be tightened in order to realize a market where halogen-free electronics are the norm rather than the exception. 

TCO Certified continues to work closely with industry,  research and user communities  as well as environmental experts and legislators to ensure ongoing  progress in the  development of ICT products that are designed for the environment and usability.

With a growing portfolio of environmentally-responsible PCs, worldwide PC maker Lenovo is widely recognized as a leader in sustainable product design – without compromising user demands for performance and cutting edge features. As verification, Lenovo has chosen the TCO Certified label as an international third party assurance of achievements.  Lenovo is now taking

The Lenovo M90z all in one desktop

its environmental commitment a step further with the recent release of the ThinkCentre M90z all-in-one desktop. TCO awarded the M90z the prestigious new TCO Certified Edge designation for its cutting edge eco- design, particularly by incorporating high amounts of post consumer recycled materials. TCO Certified Edge awards leading products that are pushing the boundaries of sustainability and high performance.

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As a third party certification program, we at TCO Certified have received many requests to comment on the current situation of false approvals in self-registration programs.  Our opinion is that these quality assurance problems are to be expected in a system where approval relies solely on information submitted by the manufacturers themselves .  For an eco-label to be a credible assurance to buyers,  independent verification of product features and claims is vital. This is how the TCO certification system has worked for almost 20 years.

TCO Certified is a third party certification (Type 1), as defined by the International Standards Organization. This means that all products bearing the label have been rigorously tested by an independent lab, according to internationally accredited test methods. Savvy buyers around the world acknowledge that a Type 1 eco-label is the best possible assurance that an IT product actually meets the requirements set forth by the label and lives up to claims made by the manufacturer.

As our society focuses more on being “green”, so do product vendors and manufacturers. In almost every product or service sector, there are environmental messages and claims put forth to attract buyers. The result is confusion for buyers as they try and decide who to trust, which product claims to believe.  This is another reason why third party, Type 1 eco-labels are more important than ever – providing an objective voice in making a green product choice easier.