A Greener Apple: LEDs to Replace Bulbs

Apple took some public flogging when it nearly topped the list of Greenpeace's most "ungreen" PC manufacturers. Greenpeace's parody web site "Green My Apple" attempted to shame Apple into more responsible behavior.

Shame worked. In an open letter to the public, Steven Jobs vowed that Apple would phase out its use of the worst chemicals in its manufacturing process and in Apple products. He said that brominated fire retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) would be eliminated by 2008 (beating out the other PC vendors' announced schedules).

Equally important, Jobs announced the beginning of a transition to new type of display screen in the MacBooks that would eliminate both arsenic and mercury. Apple, he said, is on track to introduce displays using arsenic-free glass in 2007.

As for the mercury, the company will begin the transition toward using LED backlighting for Apple's LCD screens. Today most LCD screens are lit with a type of fluorescent bulb (called cold cathode fluorescent (CCFL) backlights) that contains mercury. LED bulbs don't contain mercury, and also provide a more even light. iPods already use LED backlit display, and Apple plans to switch to LEDS in notebooks as quickly as the manufacturing process transition allows. The agressive transition schedule would put Apple ahead of others like Dell and HP, among the first PC manufacturers to start talking green.

Lead, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, ether…Job's letter about Apple's environmental initiatives reads like a chemistry class in toxic waste. By spelling out, toxin by toxin, what Apple (and other companies) are doing about the problem, we're reminded that being green is about a lot more than just shutting off your computer. The RoHS (Removal of Hazardous Substances) movement to produce toxic-free electronics is one to watch. (No surprise that Europeans (and Californians) are far ahead of the U.S. when it comes to enforcing these standards.)