A few years ago Apple fanboys attacked Greenpeace over its campaign to get the outfit to put in more environmentally friendly components in its gizmos.

Apple were rated badly by Greenpeace even though Apple claimed that it was super green. Letters from fanboys that were sent to us after we wrote that story that it didn't matter what Greenpeace said, no one believed them anyway. Imagine our surprise when the latest Greenpeace report which gives Apple five stars has been seized by fanboys as proof how wonderful Jobs' Mob is.

Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International Electronics campaigner said that Apple is now leading and HP is playing catch up, but the lack of action from other companies is ensuring that customers and the environment are still losing out. All good stuff well done Apple. But Apple using Greenpeace's accolade for PR fodder is pretty hypocritical after denying the outfit's methods for assessing green computers in the past. It has also expelled Greenpeace from its conventions over its “how green is my Apple campaign”.

In August of 2006, Greenpeace issued a report which gave Apple a 2.7 out of 10 environmental-friendly rating, condemning the electronics maker with low scores in almost all of its criteria, including the use of toxic chemicals, recycling, and the quality of its take-back programs.

Greenpeace "greened " Apple's flagship store on Fifth Avenue New York City by shining green spotlights into the location's 32-foot glass cube. A similar protest was made at Apple's San Francisco-based flagship shop during the January 2007 Macworld Expo.