33% of Consumers Want to Buy Greener Electronics

December 11th, 2008 by Jerry James Stone

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According to Environmental Leader, via the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), thirty-three percent of consumers plan to buy greener gadgets over the next two years. The report is based on an online survey of over 900 adults. I wonder if any of them are mayors?

The report shows that women are out-greening men, and that being eco-friendly is as important as cost. The report also finds that 89 percent of people want their next TV to be more energy efficient.

One interesting find is that consumers desire an easier way to determine if products are certifiably green. Well, if you’re not finding the green gadget you want, create your own: Green Gadget Design Contest Offers $3K Grand Prize.

Awareness

+ Familiarity with established terms is high: recyclable is 86%, but carbon footprint 33%.

+ Awareness of green logos follows a similar pattern. 82% percent of online adults recognize the Energy Star logo.

+ Consumers are most familiar with the household products category, the food category, and the vehicle category.

+ Awareness of appliances with green attributes tops awareness of computers with similar attributes (50% vs. 17%).

Green Behaviors

+ Does heightened green awareness translate to a higher level of engagement in green behaviors? In some cases yes.

+ For example, 87% of consumers say they turn room lights off when not in use, while 62% say they recycle household trash.

+ Women tend to be more green than men.

+ For a basket of CE products (TVs, computers, phones, VCRs), consumers report a 26% increase in recycling.

+ The teenage segment of the population exhibits very few green behaviors.

+ Fifty-five percent of consumers consider themselves to be environmentally conscious.

+ 74% believe companies should do more, but only 53% think their personal actions have a impact.

+ Over half of consumers plan to engage in more environmentally friendly behaviors over the next 12 months.

+ When asked why go green: ‘it’s the right thing to do,’(69%) followed by ‘saving money.’(63%)

+ Those that haven’t or won’t engage in green behaviors cite cost.

Green Confusion and Suspicions

+ Suspicions and confusion of green claims do exist. .

+ Sixty-five percent of consumers think some companies are greenwashing.

+ The data suggests males are more suspicious.

Green as a Product Attribute

+ Cars top the list of products for greening. Seventy-three percent feel it is important for cars to have environmentally friendly attributes.

+ 57% of consumers indicated that the environmentally friendly attributes of a product will be important to their next purchase decision.

Green CE Defined

+ Top five green attributes: recyclable packaging (68%), recyclable product (64%), energy efficient product (62%), packaging made with recycled materials (57%) and biodegradable packaging (53%).

Green Positioning

+ Consumers want an easy way to determine if and why a product is green.

+ Logos and descriptions are cited as desired vehicles for establishing green credentials.

Future Outlook

+ About one-third of consumers expect to make some type of green CE purchase over the next 12 months.

Source: Environmental Leader | Photo: © Valeriy Evlakhov | Dreamstime.com









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