Seeing as how it was earth day yesterday, it is only fitting to do a bit of an environmental review on everyone’s favorite new toy, Apple’s iPad. After a bit of leaf turning we’ve discovered some important information about how the iPad stacks up against the competition when it comes to going green. So here it is…

[Image via BuildingGreen]

For starters the iPad is free of the toxic chemicals that have plagued the electronics industry for years including arsenic, BFRs, mercury and PVCs.

Now let’s talk about the iPad part by part.

1 – The Case:

As predicted, the iPad’s case is made of glass and aluminum showing that Apple choose to stick with its signature materials. The little slab will likely have the same solid feel of the newest MacBook Pros. Glass and aluminum also happen to be easily recyclable, so Apple’s iPad gets two thumbs all the way up.

2 – The Screen:

As opposed to an OLED screen, the iPad comes standard with an LED-backlit LCD display. Apple points out that it’s a 9.7-inch, 1024 x 768 IPS screen, which, as explained by earth2tech, stands for in-plane switching, a type of LCD screen technology that offers better viewing angles over common twisted nematic (TN) LCD displays. The screen is Mercury-free so it deserves one thumb and a half up.

3 – The Battery:

The 10-hour battery will potentially last you an entire cross-continent airplane flight however, if you are  using your iPad intensively and run out of battery, you won’t be able to swap out your battery at all. The lack of seams and hatches hinted at a non-user-replaceable battery. The iPad’s spec sheet confirms this with a bullet point: “built-in 25Whr rechargeable lithium-polymer battery.” Built-in meaning non-removable. One thumb up and one down for the lithium-polymer battery. [via earth2tech]

We will choose to bypass the production and shipping effects to keep it simple.

Overall, the iPad may not be the most eco-friendly product on the market, but the iPad has made definite progress among the eco-techies and may turn out to save a tree or two. So hear’s to you Steve Jobs, Happy Earth Day.