Apple's newest piece of cool tech was unveiled yesterday. The iPad is sort of like a blown-up iPhone, or a simplified Macbook (you can look at pix, movies, email, the web and apps on it, but it doesn't run on OS and has no ports). Either way, it boasts a 9.7 inch LED touchscreen (and is just 1/2 inch thick and a pound and a half in weight), so it's lighter and easier to tote around than a Macbook but easier to read on than an iPhone.

While it's definitely awesome looking (what Mac product isn't?), and some people will find it invaluable as an e-reader, for viewing movies and video, or for checking out pictures, environmentalists have another question: Is it green?

Like the Macbook Air, the new iPad has a highly recyclable glass and aluminum body, so at the end of it's life it can be reused. It doesn't contain heavy metals (mercury and bromine) and some of the other highly toxic components (like arsenic and PVC) which can become E-Waste if disposed of improperly (and much of our tech that gets trashed is). E-waste has made news headlines for contributing to toxic environmental burdens of communities where they're dumped, especially when old computers are shipped to third-world countries for dismantling.

Aside from being made from less toxic components, when used as an e-reader, the iPad replaces printed books, which after a year of use, makes up for it's electricity use and production footprint (a typical e-reader is thought to replace at least 22 books). That's because printing, shipping and disposal of ordinary books is a pretty energy-intensive process. According to a study by the Cleantech group, "....printed books have the highest per-unit carbon footprint — which includes its raw materials, paper production, printing, shipping, and disposal — in the publishing sector." 

Apple's newest piece of cool tech was unveiled yesterday. The iPad is sort of like a blown-up iPhone, or a simplified Macbook (you can look at pix, movies, email, the web and apps on it, but it doesn't run on OS and has no ports). Either way, it boasts a 9.7 inch LED touchscreen (and is just 1/2 inch thick and a pound and a half in weight), so it's lighter and easier to tote around than a Macbook but easier to read on than an iPhone.

While it's definitely awesome looking (what Mac product isn't?), and some people will find it invaluable as an e-reader, for viewing movies and video, or for checking out pictures, environmentalists have another question: Is it green?

Like the Macbook Air, the new iPad has a highly recyclable glass and aluminum body, so at the end of it's life it can be reused. It doesn't contain heavy metals (mercury and bromine) and some of the other highly toxic components (like arsenic and PVC) which can become E-Waste if disposed of improperly (and much of our tech that gets trashed is). E-waste has made news headlines for contributing to toxic environmental burdens of communities where they're dumped, especially when old computers are shipped to third-world countries for dismantling.

Aside from being made from less toxic components, when used as an e-reader, the iPad replaces printed books, which after a year of use, makes up for it's electricity use and production footprint (a typical e-reader is thought to replace at least 22 books). That's because printing, shipping and disposal of ordinary books is a pretty energy-intensive process. According to a study by the Cleantech group, "....printed books have the highest per-unit carbon footprint — which includes its raw materials, paper production, printing, shipping, and disposal — in the publishing sector." 

But if the iPad is replacing a still-functioning computer, it feeds into the 'gotta get it now' new gadget craze, creating more waste and contributing to a higher burden on the planet's resources. Do we really need this new piece of tech?  Longevity is one of the most important environmental aspects of any new product.

In 2009, all Apple Mac notebooks and desktops earned the Electronic Product Environment Assessment Tool (EPEAT) gold status, and Apple has been working in recent years towards producing greener products; if not replacing a usable piece of technology, the iPad could fit into the company's new greener image.