New "Green" Toshiba Laptops
by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 09.26.05
This week, Toshiba exhibited the first "green" laptops ever to fully comply with the new environmental RoHS regulations. These rules were put forth by the European Parliament to reduce the use of lead, mercury, and other potentially hazardous chemicals in the production of new electronic equipment. The twin Tecras, the "Tecra S3" and "Tecra M3" are available early, well before the deadline of July 1, 2006. The M3 retails for about $2700 and weighs about 5 pounds. The Tecra S3, with a list price around $2500 is a desktop replacement with a 15" TFT display. :: Toshiba
How does this compare with the Jhai computer and similar efforts: http://www.jhai.org/jhai_remote_launch_follow.htm
I think the motivation for the Toshiba laptops is very different than the motovation for the JHAI computers. RoHS is an EU directive (2002/95/EC) which requires Electronic products crossing EU borders to have negligible amounts of Lead, Cadmium and other potentially hazardous substances.
Companies must meet this by midyear 2006 or they won't be able to bring their products into the EU. While they are being forced to meet this directive, it is a step in the right direction and many companies are learning a lot more about what substances are in their products.
RoHS Directive: http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/pri/en/oj/dat/2003/l_037/l_03720030213en00190023.pdf
I just bought a Toshiba Qosmio... was any attention to green detailing incorporated into that machine?
10/4/05 Toshiba Raises Bar for Security, System Performance and Durability with New Tecra S3 Notebook
http://www.toshibadirect.com/td/b2c/anr.to
Toshiba America: RoHS