Sales of EPEAT-registered products grew 30 percent in 2011
Is your organization using EPEAT (aka the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) to gauge the toxicity or energy efficiency of the technology it buys?
If so, you have helped eliminate the use of enough mercury to fill more than 1 million household fever thermometers.
If that stat doesn't impress you, how about this one: You have helped avoid the disposal of close to 74,100 metric tons of hazardous waste - roughly the equivalent of seven Eiffel Towers.
The environmental benefits of EPEAT-rated technology is further explored in the organization's latest annual report, which shows that sales of EPEAT-registered products grew more than 30 percent in 2011 (the last period for which full-year figures were available).
That represents about 120 million products; sales in the United States represented about half of the total, although EPEAT now touches Europe, Asia and Latin America.
The EPEAT rating system considers products for a number of strict environmental benchmarks, including criteria that promotes easier recycling, reduced energy consumiption, longer product lifecycles and reduced toxicity. The process came under scrutiny earlier this year when Apple suddenly pulled out, apparently because its popular unibody ultrabooks aren't exactly easy to take apart - making them tougher to recycle. It had a change of heart within days, though, and there are EPEAT specification changes coming based on its reenagement.
Still, many businesses and government agencies use the system to help make their IT purchasing process at least somewhat greener. There are 3,671 unique products listed across personal computers, notebooks, displays, integrated systems and other electronics devices.
EPEAT has finalized the standards for imaging equipment such as printers, copiers, fax and multifunction devices) as well as televisions. Registries for these sorts of products will be added in early 2013.
Perhaps even more intriguing - EPEAT is working on its new server standard, so stay tuned for more developments that are pertinent for corporate data centers.
You can view an infographic that summarizes the impact here.