The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a tool for evaluating the environmental performance of electronic products throughout their life cycle. The tool was developed to meet the growing demand by large institutional purchasers to buy greener electronic products. It is expected to gain wide acceptance in IT (information technology) purchasing by federal and state government. EPEAT consists of both a set of criteria for assessing products and a management system for their application and maintenance.
Note: In of February 2006, the Green Electronics Council (GEC) was selected to be the host organization for the EPEAT system to "bring it to life." The GEC will provide marketing, product registration services and maintain this website which will contain a database of all registered products. The system is expected to be live by June 2006.
Note: On march 30, 2006 the Standards Board of the IEEE approved the EPEAT standard, IEEE 1680. After April 30, 2006 the standard will be available from the IEEE at http://shop.ieee.org/ieeestore/. Enter 1680 in the search field. See the IEEE press release at http://standards.ieee.org/announcements/pr_1680epa.html
Scope of Products: The EPEAT rating system initially will address computers – desktops and laptops – and monitors. This scope may be expanded in the future.
Environmental Rating System: A rating system will evaluate products according to three tiers of environmental performance – Bronze, Silver and Gold. Qualification for each performance tier will be achieved by meeting a combination of baseline required criteria and additional points from a menu of optional criteria.
Environmental Criteria: The EPEAT rating system includes performance criteria in eight categories of product performance:
- Reduction/Elimination of Environmentally Sensitive Materials
- Materials Selection
- Design for End of Life
- Life Cycle Extension
- Energy Conservation
- End of Life Management
- Corporate Performance
- Packaging
To achieve Bronze, or baseline EPEAT qualification, products must meet 23 required criteria across these 8 performance categories. Manufacturers can select from among 28 optional criteria to earn higher performance ratings (Silver and Gold). Specific criteria are drawn heavily from existing US and international standards such as Energy Star, The Restriction of Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (ROHS) Directive, IT-Eco Declaration, and European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA). The criteria will be reviewed and updated periodically.
Documents and Links:
EPEAT is the product of a consensus-based process by a Development Team of expert stakeholders who met for over a year, and completed work in November 2004. The stakeholder groups included:
- Public & Private Institutional Purchasers
- Manufacturers
- Trade Associations
- Non-Profit and Advocacy Organizations
- Government
- Electronic Recyclers
- Academics
An Implementation Team consisting of a subset of the membership of the Development Team is currently working to identify a host organization, conduct a public review of the final draft criteria and develop a web based interface for the product information. EPEAT is expected to be operational in early 2006. A description of the development of EPEAT was published in the IAITAM PROCESS MANAGEMENT magazine. Click here for a copy (PDF 2.62M)
Additional information including an in-depth development phase report is available on the EPEAT Development page.
On June 7, 2005, the US EPA issued an RFIP soliciting initial proposals for the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) program. The goal was to select an organization that will implement the system developed under the EPEAT project. After a thorough evaluation of applicants, the Green Electronics Council was chosen and has been awarded a cooperative grant to assist the startup of the EPEAT system. For the full RFIP and key dates, see http://www.epa.gov/region09/funding/epeat.html
EPEAT is a project being conducted by the Zero Waste Alliance (ZWA) under cooperative agreement number X1-97045701 awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This web site is being provided by the ZWA. EPA and other participants have made comments and suggestions on the content of the website. These comments and suggestions were adopted by ZWA when appropriate and all final decisions on the content of the website are made by ZWA.
EPEAT as an American National Standard: IEEE 1680
During 2005 and early 2006 the Implementation team worked with the Standards Department of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) to carry out an ANSI accredited public process to develop the EPEAT criteria into an American National Standard. The result is IEEE 1680, Standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer products (including laptop and desktop computers, and monitors). The standard is expected to be published at the end of April, 2006. The IEEE 1680 standard will be available for purchase from the IEEE through its sales store: http://shop.ieee.org/ieeestore/
Even at this early stage EPEAT is being used by many federal and state organizations and is expected to be used by private institutional purchasers as well. A chart has been developed that documents the way EPEAT has been integrated into information technology procurement contracts and policies by several federal and state procurement entities. The total of the IT budgets represented by these entities is over $15.88B. Click here for a copy (PDF 127K)
Manufacturers will be able to register their products through this site in June, 2006. An online registration data submittal system has been developed and is being configured for formal use. Please check back, or for more information, contact Jeff Omelchuck, director of the Green Electronics Council.
Measuring the Results – Environmental Benefits Calculator
An independent project is underway to research and develop performance metrics and calculator tools that can be used by institutional purchasers, including Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC) program participants and manufacturers of EPEAT-qualified products. Through a cooperative agreement with the USEPA, the University of Tennessee is developing a calculator that will allow program participants to quantify the benefits of environmentally sound management of electronic equipment.
The FEC and EPEAT programs specify product design criteria and management activities based on environmental attributes (e.g., the elimination of toxic chemicals, the use of recycled materials, power consumption) or program activity (e.g., equipment reuse and recycling). The project will develop environmental performance metrics and quantitative tools that translate attributes and activities into environmental benefits, including:
♦ Reduction in energy use;
♦ Reduction in CO2/Greenhouse gas emissions;
♦ Reduction in persistent, bio-accumulative toxins (PBT);
♦ Reduction in virgin material use (increase in recycled materials);
♦ Reduction in municipal solid waste generation;
♦ Reduction in hazardous waste generation;
♦ Reduction in air and water emissions; and
♦ Reduction in cost, where feasible.
The calculator will assist institutional purchasers in measuring the environmental and economic benefits of purchasing EPEAT-qualified products, in addition to improvements in equipment operation and end-of-life management practices. As an example, program participants will be able to simply enter the number of bronze EPEAT-qualified products purchased, and the calculator tool will provide a breakdown of the resulting environmental benefits. Users will also be able to perform more advanced calculations and comparisons of the environmental benefits of silver and gold EPEAT-qualified products by entering additional data on which optional criteria a product meets.
The ability to demonstrate achievements will help justify potential price premiums for "greener" electronics and allow purchasers to communicate the environmental results of their procurement efforts. The calculator tool will also be used to demonstrate the aggregated environmental benefits resulting from the sale of EPEAT-qualified products, and thus the overall benefits of the EPEAT and FEC programs. The calculator tool will be available in early 2006.
For additional information: http://www.epa.gov/oswer/docs/iwg/2004_0219_environmental_benefits_calculator_draft3.pdf
