Survey finds 12 per cent of US shoppers will pay more for green tech

By SmartPlanet on 04 December 2007, 1:44pm

Who says techies don’t love the planet? A new survey from Forrester Research found that 12 per cent of Americans are willing to pay more for greener electronics, which they predict will encourage gadget companies to target this group, equivalent to an amazing 25 million consumers.

The survey of 5,000 people broke down shoppers into three categories: "bright" green, green, and un-green. 41 per cent may care about environmental woes, but not enough to pay more for greener gadgets, while green issues were of little or no concern to another 47 per cent of people surveyed.

"Bright" green consumers are otherwise known by the marketing acronym LOHAS, which stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability. In the slightly creepy big brother world of customer profiling this group tends to be well-off, well-read and particular about what they buy, their predecessors include those who may have bought tofu from a "health food store" before Whole Foods ushered in an era of eco-supermarkets and Waitrose stocked organic broccoli.

However, in electronics there is no equivalent green brand to Whole Foods. Green labels on gadgets are not prominent, and products made by companies with ecologically aware practices generally don't cost more than others. In the US people interested in buying more efficient products will see the EnergyStar seal on products, but EPEAT ratings of energy-efficient electronics do not mark goods in stores. In the UK we have the Energy Saving Trust and the lesser-known EU Energy Ratings Label but they too focus on household appliances -- like the LG Steam Direct Drive washing machines pictured above, which save their users energy and water.

The latest Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics gave low marks last week to Nintendo, Philips and Microsoft. Apple, long the target of a Greenpeace campaign, improved its ranking. LG Electronics, HP and Sony also made significant gains in the environmental watchdog's rankings.