Survey says: Greener gadgets not yet a priority, but getting there

In the wake of the Greener Gadgets conference held last week in New York City, review site Retrevo released results from a survey looking at how much green factors into people’s gadget buys. Unsurprisingly, the answer was not much. But there might be a silver lining.

A gadget can be considered “green” if an effort has been made to keep its negative environmental footprint to a minimum along its supply chain. Major factors for measuring impact include energy consumption, waste production, the ability for its components to be recycled, and the toxicity of the materials used to make it. Considering that most gadgets are made from parts made by several companies around the world and travel extensive distances, it takes a lot of time and attention to make a green product. And of course, there are shades of green.

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Here are some of the key results from the Retrevo survey:

When asked whether they feel guilty not buying a green gadget —

• 42 percent said ‘No’, because they don’t care whether a gadget is green or not
• 16 percent said ‘No’, because they care more about price

When asked whether they pay attention to green product certifications like EnergyStar:

• 36 percent of respondents under 25 said ‘Yes’ (keep in mind, very few people under 25 are buying their own major appliances)
• 55 percent of respondents over 25 said ‘Yes’

When asked whether they would even know how to buy green, if they wanted to:

• 40 percent said ‘Yes’ but that they don’t always do it
• 21 percent said ‘No’ but they’d like to learn
• 18 percent said ‘No’ and that they don’t care

Even though the study suggested a general lack of green gadget knowledge among respondents, the survey did serve up some promising data as well. For example, 16 percent of people say they always make a conscious effort to buy eco-conscious electronics, and another 10 percent on top of that say they know they always buy the greenest offering available.

When asked about what would convince more people to buy greener gadgets, more than half of respondents said tax rebates, subsidies and cash incentives from the government or vendors. While this is becoming an increasingly popular motivator, it’s not always going to be possible. On the hopeful side, more than 75 percent said that learning easier ways to recycle or becoming more educated about what to buy would make them more inclined to buy green gadgets.

Clearly, the mass market is starting to care more about devices’ environmental footprints. And surveys like this one aren’t the only indication. Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Amazon and Apple have all launched dedicated green initiatives that call consumer attention to how they combatting climate change and pollution.

Wal-Mart has big plans to label many of its products with their carbon footprints and a rating of how green they are are based on their manufacturing processes and transit — and it just announced its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 million metric tons. Apple has eliminated certain toxic materials from its products, published regular reports on energy use, and provided instructions for how to recycle its devices. Amazon now has a special catalog of green products, and assigns them ratings based on certain criteria. These companies seem to get it that their future customers will be more concerned about what their purchases are doing to the planet.

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