There were some interesting points made on the new products thread. In my opinion, B&O is a lot greener then i.e. Apple as their products are made to last.

 

Apple markets beeing green with programs like this,

 

http://www.apple.com/environment/recycling/program/index.html 

However they stop short, if you buy your produtc outside their own retail chanel you won't qualify. And often their own store are much more expensive, even at list price sales tax can be avoided by buying from Amazon.

 I read once, that Apple owners are actually happy if their product fails, since they can upgrade to the latest model/ 

JK

 

Sorry to be cynical - but 99.9% of businesses just react to consumer demand and opinion.. they don't give two hoots about the environment, only profits from increased sales.  Before recycling and 'going green' became a public issue, did the vast majority of corporations even think about it?

If going green means more sales - it's a winner, and if consumer demand pushed them into building community centres out of old ipods - they'd willingly do that too. 

From a purely business perspective - all i think B&O need to do is be aware of the general public opinion and do what all the other companies are doing, namely as little as possible for as big an impact on marketing 'feel-good points' as they can. 

Please don't think i don't care about the environment by the way - i do.  

Lee 

 

 

Here you can see B&O point of view, they just don't just it as a selling point.

That's just spin written by the PR department.

Standard 'blah' i would call it.. very non-committal, and clearly written by a PR Department.

At the moment though, i think B&O have bigger fish to fry...

Lee

9 LEE:

Standard 'blah' i would call it.. very non-committal, and clearly written by a PR Department.

At the moment though, i think B&O have bigger fish to fry...

Lee

It seems to me that the new founded bodies like the 'carbon trust' for example are another way of raising revenue, now we even have departments within local councils with highly paid individuals advising on carbon footprint and when the council tax is up for review all homes will have a footprint and pay for it!

All this of course might be money for the boys but its putting industry at a serious competative dissadvantage.

In China, which is now producing for most of the world in almost all sectors - they dont care at all about these issues and that is why they are so seriously able to produce products so cheaply and they dont have beurocrats stuffing up their economy either.

If there is anything in the european approach I wonder why they dont just impose  a levy on all goods imported from China where the factories do not meet emission standards- and not one would of course- but then that would be to easy and not employ as many individuals which  as far as i can see is a sink for the unemployable anyway.

355f:

9 LEE:

Standard 'blah' i would call it.. very non-committal, and clearly written by a PR Department.

At the moment though, i think B&O have bigger fish to fry...

Lee

It seems to me that the new founded bodies like the 'carbon trust' for example are another way of raising revenue, now we even have departments within local councils with highly paid individuals advising on carbon footprint and when the council tax is up for review all homes will have a footprint and pay for it!

All this of course might be money for the boys but its putting industry at a serious competative dissadvantage.

In China, which is now producing for most of the world in almost all sectors - they dont care at all about these issues and that is why they are so seriously able to produce products so cheaply and they dont have beurocrats stuffing up their economy either.

If there is anything in the european approach I wonder why they dont just impose  a levy on all goods imported from China where the factories do not meet emission standards- and not one would of course- but then that would be to easy and not employ as many individuals which  as far as i can see is a sink for the unemployable anyway.

Well said that man! But I warn you..........there are green fanatics about, even on this forum, so be prepared for a salvo in return.

I don't think 355f was being 'anti-green' - just realistic!

Lee

I agree. I don't think that B&O have thought about it anymore than any other company, at least as far as I can see on the inside. Beyond the normal "efficiencies" that are attended to with bottom lines in mind, there doesn't seem to be any real focus on it.

I can't imagine that B&O will be bit by the green bug anytime soon. Our core clientele are people who generally own two or more residences, expensive cars, travel extensively, etc. They are about as resource intensive as any individual could be. It would seem a bit inconsistant for someone with a car that gets 14mpg to demand a biodegradable television.

Totally. It's so corporate bull.. Where's the spirit for doing something because it will just make the world a better place. There's a thing called karma. Look at Apple, they are one of the first who jumped on the reducing carbon footprint bandwagon and I bet when the carbon footprint figures of their products were published in some magazine such as was the case of the ipod nano in the Times, it would have boosted the sales of their products instantly and not to mention customer loyalty. 

Well, I beg to disagree...I don't know any B&O users (hmmm maybe I don't know very many anyway) who would choose to buy any B&O products because they were more or less green. We buy them for what they are!

It's been quite a while since I visited B&O in Struer but last time I did they were pretty keen on green in their products. They eliminated most of the painting because of the solvent issues and they have a very environmentally acceptable anodising approch, don't use chrome, etc. Also have been using dual transformer systems to reduce standy by comsumption for decades. That said, I'm sure they could do better

I was going to make the dual-transformer point, something they've been doing since the BeoCenter 9300 I think...

Even the Beomaster 8000 had two transformers!

Sadly I don't know what duo transfomer means but I was very impressed how little energy the B&O products us for standby, and this I would have thought is a very big bonus point for B&O in the green stakes.

 

And then there is the fact their product outlast the competition, what is the use if you have two buy two sony stereos over ten years when  you only need one B&O product.

 

It's like upgrading your car every three years so it uses less fuel, when you consider the energy required to buld the new car.

 

Well that is my two pennies.

Toby:

Sadly I don't know what duo transfomer means but I was very impressed how little energy the B&O products us for standby, and this I would have thought is a very big bonus point for B&O in the green stakes.

 

And then there is the fact their product outlast the competition, what is the use if you have two buy two sony stereos over ten years when  you only need one B&O product.

 

It's like upgrading your car every three years so it uses less fuel, when you consider the energy required to buld the new car.

 

Well that is my two pennies.

A transformer is a device with two circuits. A changing current in the first circuit creates a changing magnetic field; in turn, this magnetic field induces a changing voltage in the second circuit. AFAIK duo transformers mean that the unit uses a small transformer and therefore more energy efficient for standby use and a large transformer when the unit is switched on.

I'm with you on products that last for a long time. The main environmental issue is preserving the world's natural resources, at least IMHO.

 

B&O have paid significant attention to what we now call "Green" methods. I have had this discussion myself. The PR blurb link is a poor representation of what they have actually done. Crap is a better word ...

Then again they never have been the most detailed communicators have they?

Beoaus...

 

I Will tray again with a more specific link, where you can read about brominted flame retardants and energy use on BC6

Have you noticed that the phrase EU regulation is mentioned again and again. I think B&O is doing nothing beyond basic environmental guidelines to help the green movement. For example the place that I stay caught fire 5 yrs back and the whole system consisting of an Avant, Besound 9000 and Beolab 8000 melted into bits. And the fact that the base of Beolab 8000 has a high level of lead in it doesn't help with the environment either. Also recently I bought a few Beocom 4s and the latest packaging has changed into fancy gloss silver and black instead of the usual brown cardboard. Well what does that say about environmental friendliness. I am not saying that B&O is unethical or anything but it simply does whatever it feels most profitable. 

Thanks Beocool.

I was invited to a research group on Nepspresso coffee (many B&O shops now serve it to customers and from my perspective ready to be flamed, its a good brand fit)

They blurted on endlessly about how interested we were in their green credentials, except that no-one really was.....

We bought Nespresso because of its quality.....

Now the MX1500 in my son's room has been going strong since 1989, that's what I call sustainability and to a point green. How many Sony's and Ferguson's and whatever else from that era are not on the scrapheap???

How green is a product which lasts you a year in this throw away society??