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July 6, 2007

1:15 pm | 0 recommendations | 2 comments

You Want Me to Buy Your Green Technology? Then Show Me the Money

| posted by Fast Company staff

According to an article from the Associated Press this week, consumers tend to buy environmentally-friendly technology products only when it saves them money. While purchasing green products is the latest craze, it hasn't translated that well in the tech world.

A few of the major computer companies have managed to take advantage of their green image, among them IBM, Intel and AMD. The success is based largely on their fuel efficient servers that consequently cost less to operate, something that works well for businesses but doesn't really mean much for someone looking to buy a PC.

Other tech companies have used gimmicks to advertise their eco-friendly image, which also has limited impact on the average consumer. These marketing tricks haven't necessarily been met with the overwhelming positive response planners were hoping for. It's not something that's going to save a company money, so there's not as much appeal. Moreover, it seems individual consumers' green desires are more immediate and personal. Dell might plant some trees when people buy computers, great. But what is my Dell laptop going to do for me right now?

All this got me thinking about my own technology purchases. I can't say the environment has played a huge factor in any of the tech products I've bought in the past few years. Like most consumers, I think the biggest eco-friendly factor I'd consider would be whether or not the product was energy efficient. A company's green initiatives would probably be more of an afterthought after I'd already made my purchasing decision based on other factors, like price and performance. You want an extra $2.00 to help plant trees? Sure, why not. But in the end, I'm still going to go with a brand and product I trust, rather than which company has the most ambitious environmental plans.

Does a product or company's green image play into your technology purchases? What green tech products do you own?

Tags: Technology, technology + computers
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Recent Comments | 2 Total

July 10, 2007 at 6:57pm

Corey Donovan

Liz, I think you make a good point. I believe a lot of these companies are claiming to "go green" for no other reason than an attempt at positive PR.

One company that stands out from the pack though is Sun Microsystems. They are reducing the energy capacity needed to run their servers and thus saving datacenters money on their massive energy bills.

We don't really push it enough, but companies like ours that sell used servers are supporting the environment and certainly saving users money.

Instead of putting another server back into the ground, we resell it used. We also sell end of life upgrades so that users can extend the lifecycle of their systems. Manufacturers like HP, Sun or IBM would prefer that they upgrade to the latest server model instead and frequently push users off of older technology. Many of these users could really get another year or two out of their systems if they bought upgrades on the secondary market instead.

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July 13, 2007 at 5:55am

Liara Covert

Some companies go further than simply using their environmentally-friendly practices as good PR. For instance, over 630 companies already participate in www.igive.com where up to 26% of money consumers spend on items through this on-line shopping is donated by companies like Dell, to the charity, organisation or group of your choice. I agree that seeing evidence of green action taken is far more convincing than another commercial. See what your favorite company or supplier is doing and encourage them to learn about wider options. Many are open to suggestion!

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