Consumer products and EPEAT

When EPEAT began, it was focused on “institutional purchasers” – large organizations that buy electronics on contract.  That is changing as consumers become aware of EPEAT’s power to identify computers that can reduce their environmental impact – and as they ask suppliers to provide more consumer products that can meet EPEAT’s standards.

There are still some limits to consumer products’ presence on the EPEAT registry, and they arise from two main factors:

    1. Some consumer-oriented products may not meet EPEAT standards Computers and monitors designed for consumers tend to have more energy-intensive entertainment and media features than the typical office PC or laptop, including high-end video and sound; faster processors; larger and more hard disk drives; larger displays. Because of these features, some home computers do not meet the ENERGY STAR standard that is required for EPEAT registration.

2. Consumers have not historically shown an interest in greener electronics.Consumers are historically very sensitive to price, performance, and flashiness, and until recently have not expressed any clear preference for environmentally friendly computers. As a result, manufacturers have been reluctant to design consumer models for environmental performance. 

The retail scene is changing, however. Consumer awareness of the significant environmental impacts of computers and other electronics has grown rapidly in recent years, and manufacturers’ ability to deliver environmentally preferable products has also expanded. Many manufacturers registering products in EPEAT do not distinguish business and consumer models, and even those that do are beginning to register more consumer products in the system.

EPEAT Retail Outlets

EPEAT is working to improve consumer access to EPEAT-qualified products through retail outlets. At this time, Buy.com, Best Buy for Business and TechDepot are the only consumer-oriented retailers identifying products on their web portals as EPEAT Bronze, Silver and Gold. If you are looking for a greener laptop, desktop, or monitor we recommend that you visit the following retail sites and search on “EPEAT”:

Buy.com      TechDepot.com

The power of consumer demand

Consistent and clearly communicated consumer demand can create market incentives for environmentally preferable products, and EPEAT provides a means to channel and focus that demand.  If consumer interest in EPEAT registered products is clear, manufacturers will increasingly respond by redesigning some consumer products to meet the EPEAT standard - a process that has already begun.

Therefore, interested consumers should ask sales people at retail outlets or online retailers to provide information on products' EPEAT ratings and be prepared to steer the sales people to www.epeat.net for more information. Happy shopping! 

NOTE: Before buying an EPEAT registered computer as an individual consumer, you should be aware of several important factors:

1.      Not all the EPEAT criteria currently 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, many manufacturers already offer these services to consumers (it just isn’t an EPEAT requirement), so check with the individual manufacturer. 

2.      As mentioned above, products registered to EPEAT may have fewer bells and whistles than a typical consumer model. Only the registered product is required to meet all the applicable criteria. If you change the product configuration - for example adding a souped up processor - your product may no longer meet all those criteria, particularly with regard to energy efficiency. To avoid this when ordering individually configured products, make sure to ask the salesperson if any changes will make the product incompatible with EPEAT.