Apple responds to environmental criticism, leaks future product plans
Steve Jobs today posted A Greener Apple, outlining how Apple has already eliminated toxic chemicals and future plans to be even more environmentally conscious. One especially interesting tidbit mentions that Apple plans to release future Macs with LED backlighting.
To eliminate mercury in our displays, we need to transition from fluorescent lamps to light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to illuminate the displays. Fortunately, all iPod displays already use LEDs for illumination, and therefore contain no mercury. We plan to introduce our first Macs with LED backlight technology in 2007. Our ability to completely eliminate fluorescent lamps in all of our displays depends on how fast the LCD industry can transition to LED backlighting for larger displays.
Apple plans to reduce and eventually eliminate the use of mercury by transitioning to LED backlighting for all displays when technically and economically feasible.
