Greenpeace Complains Game Consoles Aren't Green Enough

jasoncart writes "None of the major games consoles are 'green enough', says environmental group Greenpeace in a report released today. Zeina Al-Hajj, Greenpeace's International Toxic Campaign co-ordinator, said: "We were shocked with Nintendo; it was our biggest surprise." The company is described by the group as the least 'green' tech firm."

Comments

Re:Well yeah

[polar red]

errr ... don't laugh. That exists : http://www.hempplastic.com/

Power consumption, my friends

[hengdi]

According to this http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/08/wii-the-greenes.html/, the Wii uses 17 watts of energy, compared to the PS3's 171 watts and the 360 Elite's 194 watts.

Doesn't this make th Wii the greenest? OK, so it may not be the easiest to recycle, but it's an order of magnitude better on power consumption!

Straight off the website

[neochubbz]

http://www.nintendo.com/corp/faq.jsp

What does Nintendo do to help protect the environment?

Nintendo is very concerned with doing our part to help preserve the environment. We're always researching new products and procedures to make our products and operations as environmental-friendly as possible.

Some things Nintendo is already doing:

• In Nintendo of America offices:

• We recycle the paper we use company-wide.
• We limit our use of colored paper, since it's not easily recycled.
• We purchase recycled paper towels, report covers, message pads, and writing pads.
• We currently recycle more than 70% of the waste that is generated at our headquarters.
• We actively promote the recycling of aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and glass in our corporate cafeterias.
• We re-use or recycle over 99% of any returned product that we receive from retailers and customers

• In our products:

• We use at least 80% recycled paper in all of our shipping packaging.
• We don't use Styrofoam in any of our packaging.
• Many of our instruction manuals are printed on recycled paper.
• Our clamshell packaging is recyclable and most recycling centers accept it.
• As is stated in the manuals of the Wii console and DS Lite, neither product contains latex, lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyl (PBB), or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE). Additionally, we have been phasing out the use of PVC in our packaging, using a safer, recyclable plastic instead.
• We take great care to comply with all relevant regulations on avoiding the use of dangerous materials. All Nintendo products supplied worldwide are designed to comply with relevant global standards. In order to certify that Nintendo products comply with standards for hazardous chemical substances, Nintendo has established the Green Procurement Standards, which require our component suppliers to certify that any parts they deliver do not include hazardous chemical substances, and ensure that Nintendo fully controls its products internally.

Re:Sigh..

[samkass]

This is the same thing that Greenpeace tried to do to Apple. Despite having one of the best records in the industry, Greenpeace rated them "worst" because they didn't publish enough details or promise to do things in the future. Other companies which were in much worse shape but promised things in the future got better ratings. In other words, Greenpeace appears to value words over actions.

The Wii uses a small fraction of the electricity of the other two consoles. If all Wii sales had been PS3 or XBox360 sales, the environment would be a lot worse off.

Re:well

[ramon_omar]

i'd worry about phtalates after i was sure my balls wouldnt get chopped off in a console battery explosion. You're doing it wrong. You don't actually have to sit on the console for the game to work.

Re:Who Cares?

[Penguinisto]

How the hell are greenpeace terrorists?

There have been incidents.

Also - apparently in spite of --now-- publicly trying to distance themselves from the Sea Shephard, there are credible ties to GP and a ship specifically built to ram and sink whaling ships.

/P

Re:Sigh..

[Sentry21]

Except that the XBox 360 and PS3 can often use even more than the Wii. If you turn off the Wii's 'connect24' option, it's measured at 1.3 watts, as seen in this article.

With the PS3, if you leave it on 'remote play' standby, it uses 24 watts. This guy did some interesting measurements. Among the more interesting ones:

Satellite TV receiver (non DVR), standby or off: 15 watts.
ReplayTV DVR: 30 watts standby, 34 watts active.
Christmas tree, sparsely lit: 61 watts.
HP Compaq 2510p work laptop, idle: 67 watts.

So if you're really concerned about how much power your Wii uses in standby, make sure you're unplugging your receivers, DVRs, christmas trees, and computers when not using them as well.

But that's standby? What about when they're on and running? The first article mentioned shows some interesting figures - namely that the 360 averages 185 watts, the PS3 averages 193 watts, their test PC averaged 198 watts, and the Wii averaged... 17 watts?

So the Wii uses 1.3 watts idle, 9-11 watts on Connect24-idle, and 17 watts while active.

The PS3 uses as low as 1.9 watts idle, 24 watts in 'remote start' standby, and up to 193 watts while playing a game.

Sorry Greenpeace - which system is greener?