Hoping for a repeat with EPEAT
Computers now join wood and other products with their own checklists of sustainably produced goods.
For a few key products, such as wood, buildings, or organic food, a consumer can look for a label that designates an item as “green”—that is, sustainably produced with limited environmental impacts. The Green Electronics Council, based in Portland, Ore., has decided to apply a similar labeling system to computer goods, called EPEAT, or the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool.
The council released an online database of computer products, rated for three levels of green performance, at the end of July. Items are evaluated on the basis of a weighted scoring system, and products that receive a “gold standard” rating must earn ≥21 points. Criteria that garner points include eliminating plasticizers and designing goods that are easily upgraded, so that a consumer does not have to throw away an entire computer.
Although the computers that EPEAT rates will not bear any actual label, procurement managers will have a readily available and searchable online database for future purchases. Various government agencies have already pledged to use the new rating system, says Jeff Omelchuck, director of the Green Electronics Council. At the Green Chemistry meeting in Washington, D.C., in June, he estimated that these buyers bring >$20 billion of purchasing power to the market.
