I have a feeling that I’m going to learn a lot about “greenwashing” — and premium pricing — as I dive into the Encyclopedia of Sustainability determined to make Berkshire Publishing greener. What’s great is seeing how much good information there is around. Here’s an article about greener business travel, which took me to a less than beautiful but nonetheless confidence-inspiring site for the EPEAT™ program. EPEAT is the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, “a system to help purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes.” I am planning to buy a new laptop and this makes the decision even more complicated. The categories they use are helpful, and here’s their rating for the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet, as an example:

IEEE 1680-2006 Criteria Category Summary
4.1 Reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials 8/8
4.2 Materials selection  0/3
4.3 Design for end of life 5/5
4.4 Product longevity/life cycle extension 2/2
4.5 Energy conservation  1/2
4.6 End of life management 0/1
4.7 Corporate performance 2/2
4.8 Packaging 3/4

Unfortunately the Lenovo is considerably more expensive that some other models; I’ll be weighing practical issues as well as these green ratings, and welcome any advice!