The tech industry is reducing its environmental impact with everything from cleaner manufacturing processes to reducing package sizes on retail shelves. While Apple's scores from organizations like Greenpeace are improving, the company is still lagging a bit behind other brands like Dell and Panasonic. Still, that isn't stopping consumers from perceiving Apple as the most eco-friendly tech brand.

In a new study from The Diffusion Group and recounted by redOrbit, nearly one-third of the adult Internet users picked Apple as the champion of economically friendly technology. In this survey's second and third place were Dell and HP at 21 and 15 percent, respectively.

These perceptions vary significantly from the actual environmental scores in Greenpeace's September "Guide to Green Electronics." This was the ninth edition of Greenpeace's evaluation of market leaders' policies and practices on toxic chemicals, recycling, and energy. Apple's current score is a 4.1 out of 10, which places the company behind Sony, Toshiba, Dell, Acer, HP, and Panasonic.

It should come as no surprise that Apple's Jekyll & Hyde-like image of being a famously quiet but friendly company is cited for this misconception. In addition to highly-publicized statements like Steve Jobs' "A Greener Apple," things like Apple's slick marketing and cardboard-slimming package design probably contribute to Apple's image of being the most eco-friendly tech company when it clearly is not.