Fujitsu Siemens launches own Green label scheme

Fujitsu Siemens Computers has introduced a new Green IT label, to help consumers identify hardware that meets international standards of environmental friendliness.

The new labelling, which will be introduced for products made from this month onwards, will give a rating of one, two or three stars, depending on how the product complies with a number of different factors throughout the product lifecycle from production to disposal.

Dr Joseph Reger, CTO for Fujitsu Siemens said: “We have set the bar very high in developing and introducing our independent Green IT labeling system. The new Green IT label underlines our goal of leadership among IT vendors in both the development of green-orientated processes and technologies, and clearly demonstrates that we are taking action towards sustainable computing.”

The three star system will identify how compliant products are with regulations and industry standards across a range of factors, with the highest three star rating identifying products that exceed legislation standards.

To qualify as a three star product, a PC would have to use halogen-free material, have manuals printed on chlorine-free paper, disassembly must be possible by a single person using commonly-available tools, and all plastic components weighing more than 25g must be marked according to the ISO 11469:2000 standard, for easier identification when recycling. In addition, the power supply of the products must meet power efficiency levels of 80% for PC and 85% for notebooks during operation, at 20%, 50% and 80% loads.The new labelling system is intended to go beyond existing government and industry standards badges for green IT, such as the Energy Star, Nordic Swan and Blue Angel certificates or the ISO 14001, because Fujitsu Siemens said that they were either not stringent enough or not comprehensive enough for the standards that the company was setting itself.

Reger said that the programme will also be open to other partners, although Fujitsu Siemens said that it had yet to identify any other vendors that met its high standards.

The labelling has been introduced to the Lifebook, Esprimo, Amilo, Celsius and Futro product lines as of November, and will be extended to server and storage products in the near future.