EPEAT was developed for organizations that buy computers on
large purchase contracts and participating manufacturers have mostly registered
products that are usually bought by these institutional purchasers. However,
EPEAT is available to consumers for free and is a very effective way of reliably
identifying environmentally preferable products. We are providing the following
background and guidance for those consumers who want to buy greener
computers.
How
to Buy EPEAT Registered Computers and Monitors
EPEAT recently signed an agreement
with on-line retailer Buy.com in which Buy.com identifies the EPEAT registered
products that they carry using the EPEAT Gold, Silver, and Bronze certification
marks. At this time they are the
only retailers that are doing this.
If you are looking for a greener laptop, desktop, or monitor we recommend
that you shop Buy.com.
Consumer
products and EPEAT
You
may find that most of the products registered in EPEAT are the kinds of
products bought by institutional purchasers. There
are two related reasons why manufacturers may not have registered in EPEAT as many
consumer-oriented products as they have business-oriented products:
-
They can’t register specific consumer-oriented
products – because the product doesn’t meet EPEAT standards, and/or
-
They have no reason to register the specific product
– because consumers have historically not been very interested in eco-friendly
electronics.
To the
first point, there are often differences between business and consumer oriented
computers that affect their environmental attributes. These product differences stem from both
differences in functionality and features and from design trade-offs. Computers and monitors that are designed
for consumers tend to have better entertainment and media features than the
typical office PC or laptop, including:
-
High-end video and sound;
-
Faster processors;
-
More RAM (to enable better pictures and video);
-
Larger and more hard disk drives;
-
More connectivity (USB, firewire, etc.);
-
Larger displays;
-
Different operating systems.
Because of these features, home computers often consume
more energy than business computers and these various components may
also not meet other EPEAT criteria regarding hazardous materials or recycled
content.
To the
second point, Consumers have historically not expressed a purchasing preference
for eco-friendly computers and are also historically very sensitive to retail
price, performance, and flashiness, and manufacturers have generally designed
accordingly. For example, a high-efficiency power supply may reduce the
life-cycle cost and environmental impacts of a computer but it also adds a few
dollars to the retail price so a high-efficiency power supply has rarely been
part of the configuration of a consumer oriented PC.
Also, some computer
manufacturers have very distinct consumer vs. business product lines and
models. Manufacturers with very
distinct product lines have generally registered in EPEAT most of their
business line products and few of their consumer line products. As
a result, consumers may find fewer of these manufacturer’s EPEAT-registered
products in retail settings that carry only the consumer lines.
For
these reasons, consumers may find that the models that they want are not EPEAT registered
and that they have difficulty finding the EPEAT registered models.
Before
buying an EPEAT registered computer, you should be aware of several important
factors:
-
Not all the EPEAT criteria apply to products bought
by individual consumers: for instance, the requirements to offer product,
packaging and battery take-back services apply only to institutional
purchasers. However, check with the individual manufacturer as many
manufacturers offer this service to consumers (it just isn’t an EPEAT
requirement)
-
Your selection of options and components may be
limited: as mentioned above, business equipment registered to EPEAT may have
fewer bells and whistles than a consumer model. Only the registered product is
required to meet all the applicable criteria. If you change the configuration
from the registered model your product may no longer meet all those criteria.
EPEAT’s
purpose and goal is to create market incentives for greener computer products.
Manufacturers will register more consumer products in EPEAT as 1) the product’s environmental attributes
improve enough to qualify for EPEAT registration, and 2) they see demand from
consumers for EPEAT registered products so they have a market reason to
register consumer products. Therefore,
ask sales people whether the computers and monitors that you want are EPEAT
registered, and be prepared to steer them to
www.epeat.net
for more information if they don’t know.
Happy shopping!
