“Apple has pulled its products off the U.S. government-backed registration of environmentally friendly electronics,” Joel Schectman reports for The Wall Street Journal.
“Apple asked EPEAT, the electronics standards setting group, to pull its 39 certified desktop computers, monitors and laptops, which included past versions of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, off the list of green products late last month, Robert Frisbee, CEO of EPEAT told CIO Journal,” Schectman reports. “EPEAT, created through funding by the federal Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers, awards products a seal to certify they are recyclable and designed to maximize energy efficiency and minimize environmental harm.”
Schectman reports, “Frisbee says an Apple staff member told him at the end of June that the company no longer wanted Apple computers to be listed as EPEAT certified. ‘They said their design direction was no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements,’ Frisbee said. The company did not elaborate, Frisbee said. ‘They were important supporters and we are disappointed that they don’t want their products measured by this standard anymore.’ …Apple was putting design first in an effort to make products smaller and have batteries last longer, said Shaw Wu an analyst at Sterne Agee. ‘They are not trying to purposely make it hard to open, they are just trying to pack as much as they can into a small space–it’s a design decision,’ Wu said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: Learn more about Apple and the environment here.
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Well, ‘tossing the Frisbee’ just took on a whole new meaning….
This is interesting. If you look at the products which ‘require’ EPEAT certification, iPhone / iPad for example don’t fall into this requirement.
I think this says a lot about where Apple are going to be heading with ‘desktop’ machines. Perhaps they are going to launch new devices that can’t be classified as ‘conventional PC desktops/ notebook’ (think along the lines of MBP Retina & MB Air – flash storage, no optical drives, go against the conventional PC) and so won’t necesserily require EPEAT certification.
Apple: Come EPEAT these nuts!
EPEAT – just another wasteful gummint org. Stop already with the regulations and spending our money. IT”S NOT YOUR MONEY!
Meanwhile Moonbeam Jerry Brown has saddled future Californians to another century of taxes with a gigantic boondoggle. A high speed train, which no-one will ride because they all own autos.
Idiot. Drive your car if you want to. Give me the train and I’ll take it from the Bay Area to LA in a flash. You’re just another d-bagger, don’t tread on me ditto head.
The rest of the world is so far advanced in transportation technologies it makes us look like Neanderthals.
What will you do when you get to LA? Walk? Ride a bike? Take the nearly non-existent transit system there? High-speed rail works in the rest of the world because it connects major cities with already excellent mass transit. We don’t advance ourselves by doing things in the wrong order. First, we need good city transit, then hook up cities with good transit.
Get out of Alabama much?
Los Angeles is Building out a light rail, rapid bus transit, regional rail and subway system that will be the envy of much of the nation in a few years.
LA is also putting in bike paths and taking other actions to make the city more friendly to pedestrians, commuters and others who might not want to drive.
It takes time, money and commitment. The Expo line is reversing mistakes made long ago and the south land is getting there.
It amazes me how people bash places they know little about beyond stereotypes and caricatures portrayed in the media.
mjdwnc, Yes, just like the Sprinter train from Escondido, Ca, to Oceanside and the coast. For one thing, it’s always empty, (well, there is a crew with gummint pensions). So, I can drive to Escondido, park my car ( for a fee), pay to go to Oceanside – – Oops! What do I do when I arrive – rent a car, or get a taxi? Maybe just walk around for a while, then reverse the process.
pluckytree is correct. We have the cart before the horse – Oh wait!
It’s “government”, not “gummint”, Jean. Home schooled?
Oh, give it a rest. It’s gummint! Damn it! Small “g”.
Griogori – It is a term of contempt to exemplify what
blue collar, middle class think of our government’s atrocious misshandling of our precious tax dollars. Also used by by country and western comedians. You Sir are the ignorant one in this conversation.
WOW! Thanks for enlightening me, I had NO idea. So, it’s the same term used by inbred hicks stockpiling assault weapons for their private militias, right?
It’s NOT a “term of contempt”, it’s a stupid mispronunciation characteristic of backwoods hillbillies who are unable to employ correct English pronunciation due to their lack of formal education.
Oh, and it’s “Grigori”, not “Griogori”. I even spelled it out for you, and you STILL got it wrong. You conservatards crack me up… thanks for the laughs!
OK. If you want to play language police it’s “Government”, with a capital “G”, when referring to the U.S. Government.
But really, you need to lighten up.
Gummint is used in a famous cartoon strip. I use it because the other word has become a description of everything that’s wrong with the USA.
BTW, check out the winners of many spelling contests – most of them are home schooled. I don’t use a spell checker because I love English.
The gummint schools, for the most part, have failed to educate properly for the past 20 years, primarily because of teacher’s unions. That’s enough for now, I have a book to read.
I’m sure Walt Kelly would be pleased to have you as a fan… why, he might have even submitted your name for enrollment in the Jack Acid Society!
Sure, mjdwnc, you can take the train.
If you’re going from Borden to Corcoran (where?), and you’re not in a hurry ($6B for that segment, hoping to be done by 2017), then you’ll be happy.
The whole project is currently projected to cost $98B (in then dollars), and be finished around 2033. For costs and scheduling, refer to Boston’s “Big Dig” of fairly recent memory.
It will cost a lot more if they don’t use existing track for some sections, which requires slowing down a *lot*.
I like trains; this project is beyond stupid.
mjdwnc, It’s kind of funny that instead of making an argument for your point of view, you called out names like we’re all on a playground in the 5th grade. Ahem… back to topic: It appears Apple has made yet another independent business decision. People will vote in the marketplace, which is the beauty of capitalism in my opinion…. I think it would be interesting to hear Apple explain this move. I suppose if there is a financial impact that would turn their heads, but they seem convinced the benefits outweigh the risks of leaving EPEAT. By the way, I live at one end of the high speed rail line proposed for California. I love to ride the train, but this effort feels silly to me– closing up schools so they can help people from Fresno get to Bakersfield…. There isn’t any connection to LA or the bay area. I think in the end more of Apple’s ideas work than what I see out of the state government 😉
Trains are not an advance in transportation. If they still made any sense, it wouldn’t take tax money to make it happen.
Go look up how much those idiots in sacramento plan to spend, and divide it by the cost of a round-trip ticket on an AIRPLANE from SFO to LAX.
-jcr
I hope you’re not too old and can still walk around L.A. By the time they finish it all the way there, for only $100 billion over budget.
There is a huge difference between us and the rest of the world.
1. Cities in Europe were built around mass transportation, ours were not.
2. Americans value independence and freedom quite highly, hence we don’t enjoy mass transportation
On a different note, there was an article recently (somewhere) where they mentioned that every city with a mass train system runs in the negative. Therefore, it COSTS money to run.
“EPEAT® is built around the participation and contributions of those involved in electronics development and purchasing, as well as representatives from governments, environmental advocacy organizations and academia. The combined knowledge and cooperation of this diverse set of stakeholders helps ensure EPEAT sets a challenging bar for environmental performance and continues to move markets toward environmentally preferable product design and management.”
Hardly a Government agency. Advance your small Government/over-regulation ideals elsewhere.
‘governments, environmental advocacy organizations and academia.’
I rest my case.
So if someone from a government agency shows up the whole thing is a “gummint org”? Wouldn’t it be prudent for the government(s) to know what EPEAT is doing, i.e., show up and listen, so that the governments DON’T pass needless laws or regulations because organizations like EPEAT are already there?
And besides… it’s spelled GOVERNMENT. Gummint must be some new version of mint gum you are confusing with the correct term.
Different names, same f*cking agenda. Feces, dung, and manure, it’s all shit.
Gummint. Charlie Brown.
Too radical for you, In-the-dark-self?
My freedoms (and yours) are too precious to be relinquished to radical constraints, edicts, and ideologies.
These radical constraints would be? Your country is held back by greed. That’s all I hear when I listen to conservatives anymore. There ever longing love to break the dollar. While you are trying to get tax cuts you don’t need and still wanting more payment from your salary the government has to print more money to compensate for your collection of worthlessness. You then want banks to be able to keep doing what they did to crap on your economy in 2008 (which is still happening). And oil companies to be able to dump leftovers in our wetlands. Which hurts everyone else except the person making a quick buck. Then you go and want your senators to abolish slavery by passing laws that actually restrict women’s rights. You are the bad guys stop trying to pin the shit to us.
Wha?!! Dude! Therapy! Seriously!
JP, ever driven…parked…on the 405? 101? And so on.
I am not defending this particular instance of a high-speed train initiative. I do not have any details not the plan. But I do object to your clearly politically motivated and dismissive post. If you want the government to stop spending your money, then I suggest trimming at least $200B per year out of the defense budget and avoiding entering into any more decade-long wars. If that is not acceptable, then move to some other part of the world where there are no taxes and enjoy yourself.
You have long been a scourge on this forum. Interspersed with occasional fits of lucidity, you spout the party line without any real purpose except the undermining of any and all non-Republicans. It appears to be a near-religious fervor on your part, complete with the faith that all non-believers are, by definition, wrong.
Until you come to the table with solutions, not just gripes, sound bites, and obfuscation, your posts are worthless.
By the way, do you also object to the interstate highway system? Dams and bridges? These were paid for with ‘gummint’ money…damn hypocrite.
Put down the kool-aid, you’ve had enough already.
EPEAT is a voluntary program that allows consumers to make informed decisions regarding consumer electronics purchases. It saves consumers money, helps them keep homes free of toxics and helps business market earth friendly design in a meaningful way.
I am not a fan of the seal every seam and throw it away school Apple design is moving toward. It will prove- long run- to be a mistake that is harmful to the planet, Apple”s image and corporate profitability.
@ Jean – get a grip. Had you read the article, you would have seen that Apple was an early proponent of EPEAT and was instrumental in establishing the rules thereof. Now, however, Apple is flip-flopping.
“In order to meet the standards, recyclers need to be able to easily disassemble products, with common tools, to separate toxic components, like batteries. The standards were created jointly by manufacturers, including Apple, advocacy groups and government agencies. Frisbee says an Apple staff member told him at the end of June that the company no longer wanted Apple computers to be listed as EPEAT certified.”
It’s quite clear that Apple doesn’t want users to ever be able to replace the battery in their devices — it wants the user to junk their old iProduct when the battery dies and buy a new one (or send it to Apple for an overpriced overhaul). Am i the only one who finds this unnecessarily wasteful?
” … it makes us look like Neanderthals.”
Wot u mean by dat comint?
You ARE Neanderthals.
With Apple pulling itself out of that program it appears to be handing over million of dollars of sales to H-P, Dell and Samsung to name a few of its competitors. I’m not sure how this is a good thing for Apple and Apple shareholders. I don’t see Wall Street looking upon something like this favorably. From what I recall, it seems that Wall Street has always panned Apple for not making enough headway into government and corporate sales for long-term contracts. It has always supposedly left Apple open to the whims of private consumers. I honestly hope Apple knows what it is doing by giving competitors a free pass.
No enviromental type (i.e. radical liberal) would be caught dead with a Dell, HP, or (gasp) Samsung. They will buy a Mac and reconcile in their minds that purchasing a non-EPEAT rated product is OK because, all in all, their personal ideology has no real impact or consequences on their personal behavior.
maybe for personal use, but government agencies and most education institutions and large corporations require EPEAT certification on the computers they buy, so basically Apple is locking them selves out of those three markets, and that’s find by me, less macs I have to deal with at work
If the sole factor in government purchases is whether or not some electronic device meets EPEAT criteria rather than the sum impact of usability, functionality, durability, resale value, etc. then the government is promoting the religion of radical environmentalism over common sense.
Yes. And your point is??? Gummit & common sense. Hmmmm……
Thus the origin of the term, “dumb jarhead.”
Go crawl back into your damn submarine with the rest of the gay seamen, its ok DADT has been repealed your allowed to be open about it now, we all know why people join the navy…
Thus demonstrating my assertion. It’s really too bad that so few Marines give the rest a bad name.
“The few, the stupid, the arrogant.”
This is great news! I was just reminiscing over old pics of past Apple products, wishing that Apple would come out with some retro designs for its products. I told my wife, “I’m getting tired of all this aluminum and glass, but if Apple switches to something not as recyclable or otherwise not as friendly to the environment, they’ll have the tree-huggers harassing them again.” I’m all for being environmentally responsible, but not at the point of stifling innovation. Do you best to keep it clean, but don’t ruin the device because you need to use something that is not quite as environmentally friendly as aluminum and glass.
I look forward to some cool, innovative designs from Apple beyond aluminum and glass. Hey, I can hope can’t I?
Jean Poole says “For one thing, it’s always empty,”… You know what else is always missing on the train from the Bay Area to LA? Hollywood Environmental Actor Activists!… They sure tout the need in order to save some spotted owl or some fish or save the planet, but how often are they spotted on lovely modes of transportation such as this? Well except for Ed Begley, Jr.! You’ll probably see him.
However, has anyone seen the following? Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Robert Redford, Cate Blanchett, George Clooney, Edward Norton, Daryl Hannah, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Pierce Brosnan, Will Ferrell, Tom Hanks, Brad Pitt… all of whom tow the environmentalist line!
Another thing, how GREEN are the movies that they star in are when being made and I’m not talking about recycled styrofoam cups!
I won’t do the whole list but Blanchett lives in Austrailia and Ms Hannah lives in Colorado. Kinda hard to ride the LA public transit from Colorado.
Wouldn’t have anything to do woth liquid metal would it?
Finally, someone talking about the story.
Why IS Apple pulling all its products from the list?
Is it because they are coming out with some new items with new materials that wouldn’t pass a non flexible test with a list of approved items that was setup before the new materials exists and Apple doesn’t want to draw attention to that?
I have no idea, just asking.
Fkem. EPEAT is a waste of time. If it tweaks GreenSphincters nose, so the better. Tell the tree hugging jackasses to kiss their ass.
Yeah, right on man, let’s just f*ck this planet to death as fast as we possibly can. We can always find another one.
Besides big business, big religion, big government are doing so many good things for this planet the rest of don’t have to do a damn thing.
Yeah, I think I’ll just go throw my trash in the street, makes you feel good all over.
You make me want to throw up.
Get used to retching.
you putting the word ‘big’ in front of a word makes you sound dumber than you probably are. just saying.
I want to make you throw up too…. !!!
Good move there are probably the only one keeping the agency open. I swear If I was apple I pack my bags and leave the United States never have I seen a company that does everything right get treated like like a second rate citizen even worse. This MDN opened my eyes to how corrupt the Govorment realyl is now it allows me to justfy living by the sword. Now I’m taking it to the next level. This country suck my nephew died for the OC Country his life was worth more than every one of those people we put in office and Judge Poisoner iPhone must have been filled with Hookers numbers il bet my life on it oh the DNS scare is to let the fed in to ip6 they were unable to tack us on that tear
Well, I’m with your first two sentences, and I might be with the remainder of what you said if I could understand [decipher] it.
But on the first two points you get two thumbs up. I have never seen a company succeed through raw, hardworking and innovative tenacity; and while succeeding against all odds for itself and its own interests, doing as much good for America, economically, socially and even environmentally, as any great American industry has, including domestic auto manufacturing and Microsoft, take as much incessant ongoing crap from all quarters, as Apple Inc.
Gummint aside, if Wall Street, just for starters, would once and for all pull it’s collectives thumbs out it’s asses and get behind Apple as much as they have and do MS, it just might open the door to real and further techno development unlike we’ve seen to date.
Apple is Wall Street’s tutor – are they learning?
Are they learning? Clearly not. Don’t be a lemming (and I’m not implying that you are). Apple stock will do better than most. But it will take a substantial hit when the house of card comes down.
I meant to say that anyone sane should get their holdings out of US dollars and other major currencies as well. World commodities are the safest bet after currencies fall.
As far as Apple pulling their products from EPEAT, on the surface it appears to be an odd move, that might cost them some contracts. But I’d bet they didn’t take that decision lightly and have a damn good reason for doing so. Liquid metal use or packing components in more tightly could be why. I suspect we’ll know more shortly.
With the tone of rhetoric coming from the States, even here on an inconsequential tech story… I weep for ‘the world’s oldest democracy’… what happened to the shining light on the hill?
Please America, regain your sanity.
Hehee Marc, you won’t find sanity on a public blog. Yes, we are divided and pissed with each other, but this is what we do for fun 😉 I remember being shocked when I stood at the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park on my first visit to London and I heard a man shout that since I was from America, I was responsible for various forms of murder, genocide, rape of English women and killing school children of London with Big Macs… My British friends leaned over and said, “Welcome to our Hospitality Corner!” Look for sanity in your own family, community, belief system. The rest of this is entertainment 😉
Yes. Seen that myself. I’m born a yank but still half British. It happens the world over. You find that kind of thinking everywhere. And it’s still entertainment!
I remember when I was living in Milan Italy, a very international city. I met a German there who did not know anything about me except that I was from America. The first words out of his mouth were, “I’ve been to America. It’ so racist.” I wanted to say, “Well, very nice to meet you to.” All I could think was, wow. With the history of Germany in the early 20th century and their current history with how they treat the Turks in their country, and this guy has the audacity to say something like that to someone he really knows nothing about, oh except that I was born in America.
So let’s just take what other say with again of salt shall we.
…with a grain of salt…
America ‘the world’s oldest democracy’??…perhaps using the narrowest definition possible and excluding universal suffrage, that could be argued. How about Iceland – they had a parliament a thousand years before the Union was formed.
In other words…you wish.
Your name says it correct, I’m laughing …. OMG
You really believe what you posted then you have a big problem.
The E.P.E.A.T ” that Apple helped to get started by the way “, Has not updated it’s Guideline’s, they are using old terms including not being up with the newest progresses in manufacturing techniques by then using an outdated charter to define new technology”, Not supporting new innovations in the design field and using outdated guidelines once again has proven that most Government run groups are at least 7 years behind new technology innovations and that includes any progress in a very rapidly changing field of electronics.
A few very simple examples:
Apple uses 2 small screws in a iPhone case near the dock connector and includes small clips to hold the screen housing to the main body, with a combo of small screws holding the main board and other components, sometimes a small amount of glue or special metal tape is used to hold batteries in place. Okay no big deal, but on the new Retina MacBook the screen is part of the case this is a issue for the outdated guidelines because it can’t be easily accessed and repaired by the user, glue is now used to hold the one piece screen in place and it is remarkable the technology that went into this design, but it can’t be included due to the outdated guidelines that The EPEAT are using at this time.
The E.P.E.A.T guidelines, written years ago have not been updated to include the ever fast changing technological advances in slim design and engineering.
The fault doesn’t fall on Apple, it is a concern that inovation are leaps and bounds ahead while Goverment groups don’t investigate and approve the newer manufacturing techniques, Apple made the correct choice by pulling out, Let’s see how many others company’s do the same.
Inovation and design should not be hindered by any group, If technology is going to forge ahead, it’s up to these Goverment groups to be diligent and up to date with current processes and design principals if they are to be for the consumer as they say.
Interesting point that “government, academia, and environmental activists” are ignorant of current and breaking technologies. I always thought the majority of members of these groups were more interested in pushing their ideologies than promoting real progress. For them, it’s all about feeling good rather than doing good.
MacFreak,
You are my hero. Everything you’ve written here is the obvious result of hard-earned experience and is sadly true. The religious cultists (whether they realize it or not) of the “green” stripe are not merely satisfied with running their own lives in accordance with their (pathetically wrong) beliefs—no, these modern day brown shirts want to grind the rest of us down and force us to emulate them. If given a commissar’s powers (which they secretly crave) they would kill us all if they thought they could get away with it.
Oh yeah, DITTO goes for Jean Poole!
Hero? You make me blush. If you want to read someone truely brilliant then read Frederic Bastiat. Fred is the bomb.
Truly! As long as posters/posers are pointing out my spelling Arnold.
Or is that Arnold Spelling? The prior sentence is for those sentenced to pubic schools, or priories.
Ahhh, I should have known you would be a fan. I started reading Bastiat 35 years ago. I agree his writings are genius. They should be required reading for any student of political science, economics, or actually for all voters.
Probably now europe and usa should forbide using macs on public agencies…
At least european union. I dont have much hope for usa care of environtment…
Waterboy. What a great idea! Stop spending the peoples’ money on great computers. Just buy crap – because pubic agencies will continue wasting your money on many products, (it’s not their money). Typical socialist comment. Go carry somebody’s water.
You and others here are short sided. Many fed, state and city government agencies have already announced no more Apple products. Soon public schools will surely follow. And then there will surely be repercussions in other countries. I expect a drop on AAPL beginning today. Got to wonder what Cook is thinking. You jokers say to hell with gumint. Well gumint at all levels has tremendous influence in how people think. This is stupid move just to make a producy a tiny bit thinner or lighter. ICal me please.
It’s just simple. Build a better product. So what if it does not fit into someone else’s pre-conceived standard. People who make standards are not design engineers or innovators. From my experience they are trying to be important while not adding value. Build a better mouse trap that is faster, lighter and more efficient. Simple. I’m guessing this is another good move by Apple.
Agree, +1