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Apple Dominates New EPEAT Tablet Registry After Nearly Withdrawing From Environmental List in 2012

Wednesday August 20, 2014 8:02 am PDT by Kelly Hodgkins
ipad_air_family_20136After almost removing itself from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) registry two years ago, Apple is now leading the charge into the program's new Tablets/Slates category.

As of today, Apple's four iPad models account for 134 of the 135 tablets on the list, although the number of entries appear to be growing nearly by the minute. While Apple is represented by the various configurations of the iPad Air, the iPad mini, the iPad with Retina display and the iPad mini with Retina display, the sole non-iPad model currently on the list is the Dell Venue 11 Pro.

In a blog post announcing the new category earlier this week, Green Electronics Council CEO Robert Frisbee hailed the early inclusion of more than 100 tablets without mentioning that essentially all of them were Apple products.
We are pleased at Participating Manufacturers’ enthusiasm to register these new products. In less than one week more than 100 slates/tablets have been registered in EPEAT, and we expect to see many more in the weeks and months to come. These products are an exciting addition to EPEAT and an important step into reducing the environmental impacts of a major new product type. We are confident the new products are leaders in their category.
Apple has a bit of a rocky history with EPEAT, notifying the environmental assessment service in 2012 that it was withdrawing its products from the registry. At the time, Apple cited "changes in its design direction which were no longer consistent with the EPEAT requirements" as the reason for this removal request.

Apple quickly reversed its decision after businesses, municipalities and other Apple customers publicly decried the withdrawal decision. EPEAT also responded with a pledge to work with Apple and possibly adapt its judging standards to be more compatible with the company's cutting edge product designs.

Apple's product lineup is now represented in several EPEAT categories, including desktops, notebooks, displays, integrated desktop computers, and tablets/slates. The company has earned a gold star rating for all of its eligible products, including its difficult-to-repair MacBook Pro with Retina display. This controversial gold rating has prompted some groups to accuse EPEAT of lowering its standards in order to include Apple on the list.

Related Roundups: iPad mini 5, iPad
Tag: EPEAT
Buyer's Guide: iPad Mini (Buy Now), iPad (Don't Buy)
[ 64 comments ]


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dlewis23
63 months ago

Apple can and should do more


What more should they do?
Rating: 16 Votes
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MacSince1985
63 months ago

Like what? Can you give examples? Honest question.


Make products that are repairable and upgradable, not disposable.
Rating: 11 Votes
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peterdevries
63 months ago

Apple can and should do more


Like what? Can you give examples? Honest question.
Rating: 7 Votes
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maflynn
63 months ago

Apple can and should do more

Sounds more like a knee jerk reaction. What specifically can they do more? I'm not that knowledgeable in this area so any information you provide will be helpful. From the article they seem to be doing a lot, but you thing its not enough - why?
Rating: 6 Votes
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keysofanxiety
63 months ago

The Mac Pro is. It's unreasonable to expect super thin devices like a tablet to be upgradable.


Face it, Apple will always get criticism from people like them, no matter what they do.
Rating: 6 Votes
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KillerTree
63 months ago

Make products that are repairable and upgradable, not disposable.


The Mac Pro is. It's unreasonable to expect super thin devices like a tablet to be upgradable.
Rating: 5 Votes
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nagromme
63 months ago

2 words...

ENVIRONMENTAL NAZIS!

It's like PETA. Yes I'm against animal cruelty in all forms, but if you go all wacko batsht crazy on me telling me just eating meat is unethical or immoral, hey I'm out of there. Go tell it in a padded room.

Same with this group. Great goals, but sometimes bite off the hand that feeds it because they think they know better than Apple. If Apple would have cut off their membership, basically the leading proponent of many of the things they stand for would have told them to go to HELL!

I'm glad Apple backed them down a bit.


How DARE a worthy cause hurt the feelings our precious corporate overlords :p
Rating: 4 Votes
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kdarling
63 months ago

I like the attitude that Apple did not hesitate to step out of qualification if they think not necessary to obtain.
In addition, I also like the attitude that admitting the decision was wrong.


Apple left because they would've been rated badly, and both the US government and many corporations require certain EPEAT certification on computers they buy.

They came back when EPEAT agreed to change their rules.

It just points out what can happen when organizations are supported by the corporations they rate.
Rating: 4 Votes
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sulliweb
63 months ago

Face it, Apple will always get criticism from people like them, no matter what they do.


No, MS gets criticism... Google sometimes gets criticism... Apple just gets whiners. :rolleyes:
Rating: 4 Votes
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Jynto
63 months ago

Users replacing batteries means MORE waste.


That is probably the least intelligent comment I have ever seen on this forum.
Rating: 3 Votes

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