The environment seems to have taken a back seat during the pandemic. However, there are definitely ways you can be more sustainable whilst at home – including the technology you use. As a local PC repair and tech support company based in Manchester, we can offer advice on more sustainable options when it comes to your office equipment.

Working from home has increased since lockdown and with restrictions lifting, 72% of people want to approach a blended return to work, making home offices the new normal. Purchasing a portable laptop gives you the freedom to move your workspace around and the small compact nature of them means fewer materials and energy are being consumed by supply chains.

According to Energuide (2021), an 8-hour working day on the laptop consumes between 5-100kw of power which is half the energy consumed by desktops. However, this only makes up 20% of the device’s environmental impact. The other 80% is made up of the entire life cycle including:

  • Manufacturing techniques.
  • International and domestic shipping.
  • Life expectancy.
  • End of life recycling potential.

You would think the obvious answer to a more sustainable laptop purchase would be to buy a newer model that has a more updated energy efficiency. Even though newer laptops have lower carbon emissions, roughly 70% of laptops can be reused (Mossy Earth, 2021). If you still want to look into new models, here are some of the best laptop companies you can purchase from to help reduce your carbon footprint:

Apple Macbook

Apple has a great reputation for being one of the front runners of sustainability in the technology industry. Most of Apple’s products are made from recycled materials. The company itself backs a number of sustainability initiatives and offers a trade-in service for customers, encouraging them to return their old devices in return for money off their next purchase. 

Their Macbook’s are very energy efficient and remain free from harmful chemicals such as mercury, PVC plastic and BFR’s. The company’s stores and offices are entirely run on renewable energy and have reduced their carbon emissions for the past 10 years by 73%.

The most environmentally-friendly model in the Macbook range is the 16-inch Macbook Pro. The device is made from 100% renewable energy, the logic board is made from 100% recycled tin, 35% recycled plastic and low-carbon aluminium. They also don’t send any materials from supply chains to landfill sites and find ways to recycle them back into production instead.

Lenovo

The most eco-friendly laptops in the Lenovo series are the ThinkPad L series. They save 40% on operating costs and are the greenest laptops that Lenovo supplies. Customers of the model are 30% more efficient in recycling their model once it reaches its end of life compared to other companies. 

Lenovo themselves have made some climate-conscious pledges in their latest sustainability report, stating that they will restrict the use of hazardous materials from suppliers and plan to reduce their carbon emissions by 70% towards the end of 2050.

The company has almost eliminated PVC plastic and BMR’s from their products, using PVC plastic in their power cables only with hopes to completely eliminate this. Lenovo has recently offered online firmware updates to help customers fix any battery issues – reducing the level of battery changes and further reducing material consumption.

HP

The EliteBook models from HP are the company’s energy-efficient answer to tech. The simplistic design makes any tech issues easily accessible for any repairs and doesn’t require any specialist parts that further impact the device’s carbon footprint. 

HP recently released a Dragonfly model that received positive press from Forbes, mentioning how the materials used to create the device featured plastics that had been collected from beaches and shorelines – reducing plastic waste being dumped into the oceans. The company wants to ensure that all its laptop materials are made up of at least 30% upcycled materials by 2025.

The brand also has a great policy regarding sourcing materials and are members of the Responsible Mining Initiative.

ASUS

The company received 100% Energy Star compliance for all their notebook computers in 2019 and are a leading provider in supplying computer recycling services to 74% of technology markets worldwide. HP has recently stated that their sources of gold, titanium, tin and tungsten came from qualified smelters in 2019 and have received rewards for their ethical sourcing of minerals for their devices. 

Their laptops have had some incredible climate-conscious milestones in the past. They were the first company to create the first carbon-neutral notebook back in 2009 and their headquarters was the first of its kind to produce zero-waste to landfill in 2016.

In terms of materials, the brand has reduced their PVC plastic consumption by 27%, however, there have been no recent developments in a plan to completely ban the use of PVC plastic, BMR’s and other harmful materials – hopefully, this will change soon.

Dell

One of the most climate-friendly laptops that Dell provides is the Latitude model. The concept behind it’s sustainability is the design features. The laptop has been created to allow easy access for part upgrades – removing the need to replace the laptop itself. Dell also uses Phillips screws, making repairs and replacements easy and more energy efficient. 

Dell issues an annual sustainability report regarding environmental and social factors. In recent years they have greatly reduced their consumption of product energy, greenhouse gases and turnover of waste materials as well as increased their eco-friendly packaging materials for all of their devices.

The company plans to reduce their carbon emissions by half by 2030 and become 100% energy renewable by 2040. Like the above brands, Dell also plans to phase out the use of harmful chemicals such as BMR’s and PVC plastic from all of their laptops within the expressed timeframes. They also have expressed the changes being made to their mineral sourcing, ensuring consumers of the current plans to resource more responsibly.

A huge factor of energy consumption from the purchase of a laptop is the journey it undergoes to make its way to you. For example, a way to be sustainable is to keep the purchase of your device local. If you’re local to Manchester and require further advice or tech support, remember to check out Manchester PC.