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Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT)
Hot Topics
EPEAT Focus of Federal Tech Talk Radio
EPEAT was the topic of John Gilroy’s Federal Tech Talk Radio Show on September 23, 2008. Listen or download a recording of the show 
.
EPEAT Highlighted in EPA's GreenScene Podcast
View or listen to the entire GreenScene Podcast.
Environmental Benefits of the Purchase of EPEAT Registered Products in 2007!
The second annual report estimates the life-cycle environmental benefits from the purchase of EPEAT registered electronic products. Read the report on the EPEAT Web site.
EPEAT, which stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, is an easy-to-use, on-line tool helping institutional purchasers select and compare computer desktops, laptops and monitors based on their environmental attributes.
EPEAT was developed using a grant by EPA and is managed by the Green Electronics Council (GEC). It is dedicated to informing purchasers of the environmental criteria of electronic products. GEC's EPEAT Web site provides guidance for purchasers and manufacturers and hosts the database of EPEAT-registered products. EPEAT-registered computer desktops, laptops, and monitors must meet an environmental performance standard for electronic products - IEEE 1680- 2006.
The second annual report quantifying environmental benefits was issued June 17, 2008, by the Green Electronics Council.
Purchase of EPEAT-Registered Products Required for Federal Government
Executive Order (E.O.) 13423, "Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management (PDF)," (7pp, 108KB, About PDF) was signed by former President Bush on January 24, 2007. The executive order requires agencies to acquire EPEAT-registered electronic products for at least 95 percent of electronic product acquisitions, unless there is no EPEAT standard for the product. The Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget have issued the Implementing Instructions for E.O. 13423 (PDF) (51pp, 52KB, About PDF).
In January 2009, the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) was amended to add provisions for implementing the E.O. 13423 requirement. This final rule (PDF) (2 pp, 52 KB, About PDF) specifies that agencies must ensure that they meet at least 95 percent of their annual acquisition requirement for electronic products with EPEAT-registered electronic products, unless there is no EPEAT standard for such products.
Current EPEAT Standard and Registry
Launched in 2006, EPEAT was developed in response to growing demand by institutional purchasers for an easy-to-use evaluation tool enabling them to compare electronic products based on environmental performance, in addition to cost and performance considerations. Creation of EPEAT was guided by electronics manufacturers' expressed need for clear, consistent procurement criteria.
As of September 2008, over 830 products manufactured by 29 manufacturers were EPEAT registered and listed on the EPEAT Product Registry Web page.
Development of New EPEAT Standards
EPEAT's success has generated great demand by stakeholders for standards for additional electronic products. In August 2007, the Zero Waste Alliance released the EPEAT Standards Development Roadmap (SDR) , which outlines the results of a six month stakeholder input gathering process and lays out a set of recommendations for developing new environmental standards for electronic products based on this input.
In 2008, EPA hosted two scoping meetings to help launch the development of environmental standards for the first two electronic product categories recommended under the EPEAT SDR: imaging equipment and televisions.
UT’s Center for Clean Products Managing New EPEAT Standards Process
EPA has awarded a cooperative agreement to the University of Tennessee’s (UT) Center for Clean Products to manage the process of creating the next generation of environmental performance standards for greener electronics as part of the EPEAT program through the ANSI accredited IEEE standard development organization. The cooperative agreement will allow the Center for Clean Products to manage the public process to develop environmental standards for up to four additional electronics product categories: imaging equipment, televisions, servers, and cell phones/PDAs. Further information on the development of these new environmental performance standards for electronic products is available on the IEEE Web page for the 1680 standard . To join one of the standard development workgroups, please contact the University of Tennessee's Cat Wilt (catwilt@utk.edu).
Calculating Environmental Benefits
Often organizations need to show the benefits of making decisions based on environmental criteria. An Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator can do the task by quantifying the benefits gained by purchasing EPEAT-registered computer desktops, laptops, and monitors. Enter the number of EPEAT-registered products purchased, and the calculator tallies the energy and money savings, as well as reductions in toxic substances, hazardous waste generated, etc. The calculator can also quantify improvements in equipment operation and end-of-life management practices. Currently, this tool is designed to evaluate EPEAT-registered desktop (with a CRT or LCD monitor) and notebook computers. The University of Tennessee developed the calculator under a cooperative agreement with EPA.
Related Programs
For more information on programs related closely to EPEAT and other EPA electronics efforts, please see EPP's electronics page.
Meeting Strategic Goals
EPA's support of the development and use of EPEAT is linked to specific objectives in EPA's 2003-2008 Strategic Plan (239pp, 4.7M, About PDF): to prevent pollution and promote environmental stewardship by government, the public and business. Use of EPEAT will help EPA in meeting its strategic targets. It is also helping other federal agencies with environmentally preferable purchasing programs and policies meet their numeric targets for reducing hazardous and non-hazardous waste and reducing energy use.
Read about EPEAT's 2007-2008 accomplishments.