What is EPEAT?
EPEAT is an environmental procurement tool designed to help
IT purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate,
compare and select desktop computers, notebook computers and
monitors based on their environmental attributes. At the same
time it helps manufacturers promote environmentally preferable
products. EPEAT is the implementation of the IEEE 1680 Standard
for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer products
(including laptop and desktop computers, and monitors).
Why is it important?
Electronic products are a part of everyday
life, and continued and expanded use of electronic information
and communications technologies is likely a key to achieving
global sustainability. However, with our current industrial
technology and infrastructure electronic products also have
unacceptably high social and environmental impacts. Electronic
products often:
a. Are very resource intensive to manufacture;
b. Contain significant amounts of toxic and environmentally
sensitive materials;
c. Use electricity inefficiently;
d. Have a relatively short useable lifespan;
e. Are inefficiently and/or ineffectively recovered and
recycled.
To help alleviate these problems, many
organizations are striving to purchase environmentally
preferable products and they are using their purchasing power to
make products greener. However, until recently it has been very
difficult for most purchasers to determine what products are
environmentally better than others. EPEAT is an easy-to-use
system to help purchasers deal with the technical complexities
of determining which products are actually preferable.
Search for EPEAT Products
Environmental Benefits of EPEAT Purchases, 2006
The first six months’ sales of EPEAT registered green
computers when compared with traditional computers, produced the
following environmental benefits:
Saved 13.7 billion kWh of electricity, enough to power 1.2
million U.S. homes for a year;
Saved 24.4 million metric tons of materials, equivalent to the
weight of 189 million refrigerators;
Prevented release of 56.5 million metric tons of air pollution,
including 1.07 million metric tons of global warming gases --
the equivalent of removing 852,000 cars from the road for a
year;
Prevented release of 118,000 metric tons of water pollution;
Reduced toxic material use by 1,070 metric tons, equivalent to
the weight of 534,000 bricks, including enough mercury to fill
157,000 household fever thermometers; and
Avoided the disposal of 41,100 metric tons of hazardous waste,
equivalent to the weight of 20.5 million bricks.
These figures are derived from manufacturer data on sale of
EPEAT registered products.
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