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Product Purchasing and Computer Power Management for Federal Agencies

Federal agencies are required to purchase energy-efficient products and activate power management settings on their computers by the following two federal initiatives:

  • The Energy Policy Act of 2005 Exit ENERGY STAR requires federal agencies to buy either ENERGY STAR products or products designated as energy efficient by the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP). These requirements are included in the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Subpart 23.203 Exit ENERGY STAR. In June 2007, the Department of Energy published a Notice of Proposed Rule Exit ENERGY STAR to provide guidance to Federal agencies implementing EPAct, Section 104: “Federal Procurement of Energy Efficient Products.”
  • Executive Order 13423 Exit ENERGY STAR requires federal agencies to activate ENERGY STAR “sleep” features on computers and monitors and mandates that federal agencies buy EPEAT* Exit ENERGY STAR registered products. In March 2007, the Council on Environmental Quality issued instructions Exit ENERGY STAR defining agency requirements for implementing Executive Order 13423 and broad strategies for achieving them.

This page is designed to assist you in fulfilling these requirements. To comply, federal agencies should:

Purchase EPEAT Registered Computers and Monitors

All EPEAT-registered products are, by definition, ENERGY STAR qualified. Visit www.epeat.net for registered product lists and additional product requirements. See here for answers to frequently asked questions about ENERGY STAR 4.0 and EPEAT PDF (51KB). Follow the links below to view ENERGY STAR efficiency specifications, qualified product lists, and savings estimates:

  • Computers and Notebooks: New ENERGY STAR efficiency specifications, effective July 2007, lower power consumption requirements. Qualified desktops save roughly $15 in electricity annually.**
  • Monitors: The energy-consumption of an average LCD display is two-thirds of that for an average CRT.

Purchase ENERGY STAR Qualified Office Equipment

Activate Power Management Features on Computers and Monitors

Learn how computer power management, or “sleep” features can save your organization as much as $75 per system annually. Instructions, software, savings calculators, and other resources are available at the ENERGY STAR power management website.

Purchase FEMP-Designated Energy-Efficient Products

The Department of Energy’s Federal Energy Management Program provides purchasing specifications for energy-efficient products not covered by ENERGY STAR specifications. For information, please visit the FEMP Energy-Efficient products Exit ENERGY STAR web site. To purchase FEMP-Designated Energy-Efficient Products on GSA Advantage, please see their Environmental Aisle Exit ENERGY STAR.

*EPEAT is a system to help purchasers evaluate, compare and select computers and monitors based on their environmental attributes.
**Comparing a non-ENERGY STAR computer and an ENERGY STAR qualified computer both without sleep settings activated and turned off at night at a frequency of 36% of the time. (Turn off percentage based upon data in May 2004 Lawrence Berkeley National Labs study entitled “After Hours Power Status of Office Equipment and Energy Use of Miscellaneous Plug Load Equipment.”)