EPEAT® - "the definitive global registry for greener electronics" - simplifies its twenty-three required IEEE 1680 criteria and twenty-eight optional ones into a simple Bronze-Silver-Gold designation. EPEAT Gold models meet all required criteria and at least 75% of the optional ones. ~20* manufacturers are now offering over 1700* EPEAT Gold products registered for the United States. This is more than double the number we counted twenty-one months ago.

The US ENERGY STAR program looks only at energy efficiency and not other sustainability factors. Twenty set-top box (STB) units for cable, IP, or satellite from seven manufacturers came in at less than 100W in the program's Total Energy Consumption (TEC) metric. Apple TV is the most efficient, helped by its very low stand-by power consumption. The unit has a number of other sustainability features, as well. Here is the list we derived from the ENERGY STAR database.

Desktops and workstations are still widely-used in enterprise computing, particularly for demanding applications, although some of these models are targeted to the consumer. Nine manufacturers are offering over 170 models in the EPEAT Gold database. Ace, All-In-One, Dell, HP, and Lenovo offer the most choices; Ace, Grace, Verdio, and Wipro are the latest to have products on one of these green rankings. BenQ and MDG no longer have desktops listed by any ratings systems, so they have been dropped from this table.

300+ EPEAT Gold displays offered in USA: LG and Samsung offer the most. No additional manufacturer has registered EPEAT Gold displays since we analyzed the EPEAT database six months ago six months ago. Then there were 200+ EPEAT Gold displays; the growth has come from existing participants.

Looking for the greenest television set? We sort through a complex set of resources for you to help you buy that green TV.

We've added newer rankings for both mobile and smart phones, but left the original ones here for those looking to reuse an older unit.

Notebooks, including laptops and netbooks, is the most well-reviewed e-gear category. HP models are noted by all five sources; Apple and Toshiba by four. The EPEAT Gold database includes over 940 models for the US; Samsung, Sony and Toshiba offer the most.

The European market for Green ICT products has many local standards with few certified products. This does not appear to best serve sustainability-oriented computer buyers, consumer or enterprise, who need to make practical purchasing decisions today.

While much of the green computer focus worldwide is on laptops, UK companies are doing interesting things with desktops.

Aleutia offers low-power units that "are designed to easily connect to solar power and work in remote places." Case studies include Africa and Central Asia.

VeryPC promotes its Broadleaf desktop as "categorised as ‘Class Leader’ by DEFRA Quick Wins", "BFR, PVC and halogen free in line with ECMA-370, the environmental standard", "the only desktop PC to be endorsed by the Energy Saving Trust Recommended scheme". (More about Green ICT product standards in Europe.)

Here's a guide to go about finding the greenest e-gear. It's not as easy as it sounds!