IT products. Going beyond green - Can high performance and sustainability co-exist?

E-waste, the CO
₂
impact of the IT industry and increasing demands for corporate social responsibility are the driving forces behind the ¿Green IT¿ boom. Tools such as Environmental labelling of IT equipment and other claims to environmental preferability are guiding consumers to more ecologically sound choices of IT equipment. At the same time, consumers have an endless demand for high performance product: image quality has to be high, response times short and processors are continually developed to work at higher speed. There is a dual set of demands facing computer users today - and sometimes those demand sets affect each other. For instance, what does a high performance computer display with outstanding image quality and color rendering mean for the energy efficiency of the product? This session discusses the recent standards review process conducted by TCO and industry to reconcile consumer demand for high performance products and the latest technology, while simultaneously influencing product development towards greater sustainability.