Tallying up the benefits of EPEAT purchasing

OK math geeks, here's one for you. According to a new report from the Green Electronics Council, if you add up the positive environmental impact of the 109 million displays, notebooks and desktop computers sold through the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) in 2007, here's what you get:

- A reduction in the use of primary materials of roughly 75.5 million metric tons, or the weight of 585 million refrigerators (good not just from a materials standpoint but also in shipping weight). - A reduction in mercury that would be enough to fill 482,381 household fever thermometers. - A reduction of 3.31 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, or the equivalent of taking 2.6 million U.S. cars off the road. - A savings of 42.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity. - A savings of roughly $4 billion for both manufacturers and purchasers over the life of these products.

Here's another interesting statistic: EPEAT-qualified desktop and laptop sales accounted for about 22 percent of the worldwide notebook and desktop sales in 2007, up from 10 percent of all units in 2006 when the first EPEAT-rate products began hitting the market.

Here's the entire report from which these data were pulled: (The EPEAT 2007 Environmental Benefits report).

Incidentally, stayed tuned, EPEAT will cover server technology in the coming months.