How Green is the New Macbook?

It’s nice to see that we now live in a world where mere moments after a new product is revealed, its environmental friendliness is assessed in the public arena. Steve Jobs presented the new Macbook Pro today (to resounding praise), and Treehugger was quick to follow with a detailed look into the machine’s eco-impact. The initial assessment? Apple has done very, very well. Here’s a bit from the Treehugger report:

The unibody enclosure is made from one piece of aluminum, and pieces of the aluminum are removed to create the structure. It seems that this process allows the MacBook Pro to use 50% fewer parts. In the manufacturing stage, they start with a 2.5 pound piece of aluminum. The end structure is only 0.5 pounds (for the MacBook Air). That means that 2 pounds of aluminum is cut away.

Where does all that excess aluminum go? To the recycling plant, of course! And on top of the apparent frugality of material usage…

The new MacBooks are arsenic free glass, BFR free, mercury free, PVC free, is Energy Star compliant, the screen is LED and uses 30% less energy, they use 37% smaller packaging, and have earned an EPEAT Gold rating.

Treehugger