Green electronics? - An LCA based study of eco-labeling of laptop computers

According to the ISO14020 standard eco-labeling of products is intended to guide consumers towards the more environmentally friendly segment of products available on the market. To investigate if this is successful for laptop computers, a life cycle assessment (LCA) model of a generic, up to date laptop was created. The constraints imposed by two different eco-labels for laptops were implemented in the LCA model; the eco-labels used for this purpose were EPEAT (based in the US) and TCO (based in Sweden). The analysis of the eco-labels criteria revealed that the labels impose few changes on the design of the laptop as describe in the LCA model and that their influence on the life cycle impact was minimal. The labels do promote energy efficiency, but the marked demand for long battery life is a push so strong that the average lap top on the market well fulfills these criteria. It was notable that the lap top power efficiency together with short product life, resulted in that the use phase environmental impacts was less compared to the production phase environmental impacts (partly opposed to some earlier studies, where the electricity consumption during use was a more important driver). To promote better environmental performance the energy efficiency could be improved further; but useful life of lap tops is an increasingly important issue to be addressed. Criteria for eco-labels must be continuously updated to actually guide toward a more environmentally friendly market segment for fast developing products like electronics.