For Philips, a product is “green” once its external auditor, KPMG, has certified that it is at least 10% more efficient than other similar products on the market. Efficiency is measured in at least one of five categories: hazardous substances, recycling, packaging, product weight and energy efficiency. Philips’ green products have carried a special green logo since April 2007, across North America, Europe and Asia.

Many of the products scored their 10% higher efficiency rating through energy efficiency – but customers cannot be sure what category their product excelled in until they visit Philips’ website . Shoemakers admits this is cumbersome and says the firm is looking to provide more information on its labels.

The green range, which Philips promises to extend across all of its product ranges, currently includes some televisions and other audio/visual electricals, but mostly features energy saving lighting. Philips is one of the big three global players in the lighting industry, alongside GE and Osram, and is keen to capture the growing market for energy-saving bulbs.

“the impact we make as a company is negligible compared to the impact of our products” Schoenmakers claims that higher specifications do not mean a product must use more energy, but admits there are limits to the energy efficiency of some luxury products, such as big-screen TVs. “At some point in time we are bound by the laws of physics. If people want to buy a big TV, it will use more light”. And light requires energy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 8:47 am and is filed under Consumer Electronics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.