Computers Go Green

Maybe its the unbearably hot weather, the melting ice caps, devastating hurricanes, or freak tsunamis. Whatever. The point is that hi-tech is starting to take the environment seriously, especially when it comes to computer equipement.

To that end, the Green Electronics Council launched earlier this year a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funded project called the "Electronic Products Environmental Assessmet Tool" (EPEAT) to help purchasers rank computer desktops, laptops, and monitors based on their environmental attributes. The three-tiered EPEAT rating system includes 23 required criteria and 28 optional criteria. EPEAT products are identified as EPEAT-Bronze, EPEAT-Silver, or EPEAT-Gold, depending on the number of optional environmental criteria incorporated in the product.

This month, more than 60 desktop computers, laptops, and monitors from three manufacturers--Dell, HP, and CTL--were recognized as high-performance, environmentally friendly computer equipment. All of the products meet the new EPEAT "green" computer standard and they are listed online in the at EPEAT database.

All EPEAT-registered computers have reduced levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury to better protect human health. They are more energy efficient, which reduces emissions of climate changing greenhouse gases. They are also easier to upgrade and recycle. In fact, manufacturers must offer safe recycling options for the products when they are no longer useable.

According to the EPA, conservative estimates that over the next five years project that purchases of EPEAT registered computers will result in reductions of:

• More than 13 million pounds of Hazardous Waste
• More than 3 million pounds of Non-hazardous Waste
• More than 600,000 MWh of Energy--enough to power 6 million homes

According to the Green Electronics Council, EPEAT has also already been referenced in nearly $32 billion worth of computer contracts, including contracts issued by the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, NASA, Minnesota, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the City of San Jose, California, Kaiser Permanente, and Premiere, a healthcare purchasing alliance with more than 1,500 hospitals and more than 41,000 other healthcare sites.

Posted by Jon Erickson at 10:00 AM  Permalink