San Francisco has earned a reputation for being, in certain regards, the nation’s most permissive city, but even the City by the Bay has certain limits. Take, for instance, one’s choice of computers: If you work for the city, you will not be allowed to procure an Apple using city funds. Why? Because the computer industry giant with its headquarters less than an hour away from San Francisco is not "green" enough.

San Francisco’s ban on the purchase of Apple computers came in the aftermath of the Cupertino-based company’s decision to withdraw from participating in the “Electronics Product Environmental Assessment Tool” (EPEAT) ranking of consumer electronics. Apple had been voluntarily submitting 39 different products to the EPEAT standards, but the company has now decided to withdraw from participation, and is electing to adopt a different standard: one overseen by the federal government. As FoxNews reports, the company’s move to the Energy Star 5.2 standard (one which is overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy) keeps the company in compliance with stringent environmental standards:

A statement released Tuesday by the company indicates Apple’s intention to make products as green as possible — under a different energy efficiency label.

"Apple takes a comprehensive approach to measuring our environmental impact and all of our products meet the strictest energy efficiency standards backed by the US government, Energy Star 5.2. We also lead the industry by reporting each product's greenhouse gas emissions on our website, and Apple products are superior in other important environmental areas not measured by EPEAT, such as removal of toxic materials."

However, it appears that the city is unimpressed by the federal standards. In an article for ZDNet.com, Heather Clancy offers a revealing quote from the city’s “toxics reduction coordinator”: 

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