Washington Post: Promoting Green Electronics in Government
As the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “green electronics lady,” Holly D. Elwood works to make sure that the computers and other electronics purchased by the federal government are as environmentally friendly as possible. In the process, Elwood uses the government’s huge buying power to create a market for green products, leading to a cleaner environment and better options for consumers.
“The beauty of the project is that we’ve harnessed supply and demand to green the marketplace,” said Elwood, project manager of the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program. “This program has greened the supply chain and product offerings worldwide.”
Elwood not only helps agencies buy computers, but she assists with the development of standards that define what exactly a green product is – the first question suppliers tend to ask, she said. Federal purchasers now are required to buy computers listed on a global registry known as “EPEAT” that is based on a standard Elwood helped create with other interested parties. This Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool is the largest rating system for electronics.
EPEAT requires products meet criteria in eight environmental performance categories that look at such factors such as the product’s longevity, its packaging and the level of environmentally sensitive materials it contains. The entire federal government is in compliance with the requirement that 95 percent of the products it buys and uses meet the EPEAT standards. That’s an excellent compliance record, according to Elwood, who has worked on EPA’s efforts to encourage green purchasing since the environmentally preferable purchasing program’s inception in 1993.
The federal government’s buying power ends up putting green computers in consumers’ hands too. Shoppers can find EPEAT registered electronics at stores and on popular websites, such as Amazon and Best Buy. And, all top computer sellers have at least some EPEAT-registered products available for purchase.