This time last year Steve Jobs was ignoring our calls for a greener Apple, but yesterday he revealed the new MacBook Air – the thinnest notebook on the planet and Apple’s greenest computer so far.
It uses less brominated fire retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), but it hasn’t eliminated them entirely. Had it done so, it would have made Apple an ecological leader.
As a mercury- and arsenic-free laptop it exceeds European standards and raises the bar for the rest of the industry. The BFR- and PVC-free printed wiring on the motherboard is a big step forward, but not a first. Sony achieved that last November.
Still, it’s a big step for Apple and, to show how much the company’s thinking has changed in the last year, Steve also talked about the environment for the first time in his keynote speech. And the real reason this happened is because thousands of Apple fans told Steve they want a greener Apple. You made it happen.
