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About EPEAT™
EPEAT is a procurement tool to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products, and provides an opportunity for manufacturers to secure market recognition for efforts to reduce the environmental impact of their products. Look for the EPEAT logo on our product pages.
How EPEAT™ Works
EPEAT is a system in which manufacturers declare their products' conformance to a comprehensive set of environmental criteria in 8 environmental performance categories:
- Reduction/Elimination of Environmentally Sensitive Materials
- Material Selection
- Design for End of Life
- Product Longevity / Life Cycle Extension
- Energy Conservation
- End of Life Management
- Corporate Performance
- Packaging
The operation of EPEAT and the environmental criteria are contained in a public standard IEEE 1680.
EPEAT is operated by the Green Electronics Council (GEC). Before a manufacturer can use the EPEAT system to declare their products they must sign an Agreement with the GEC that requires them to be truthful in their declarations, and they must pay an annual fee. In order to maintain the credibility of the system the GEC regularly selects products from the registry and verifies that the declarations are accurate. If the GEC finds that a declaration is not accurate the manufacturer must correct it or it will be removed from the registry.
Purchasers are encouraged to require EPEAT-registered products in their purchase specifications. For a current list of purchase specifications that cite EPEAT. Visit Purchasers Resources for suggested contract language to use in your purchasing specifications.
GEC periodically reports on the environmental benefits from the purchase of EPEAT-registered products. The first report will be published in 2007.
EPEAT™ Performance Levels: Gold, Silver, Bronze
EPEAT evaluates electronic products according to three tiers of environmental performance -- Bronze, Silver and Gold. The complete set of performance criteria in IEEE 1680 includes 23 required criteria and 28 optional criteria in 8 categories. To qualify for acceptance as an EPEAT product, the product must conform to all the required criteria. Manufacturers may pick and choose among the optional criteria to boost their EPEAT "score" to achieve a higher level as follows.
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Meets all 23 required criteria |
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Meets all 23 required criteria plus at least 50% of the optional criteria |
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Meets all 23 required criteria plus at least 75% of the optional criteria |
For purchasers the three-tier system provides the ability to select equipment that meets their minimum environmental performance requirements or to give preference to models with more environmental attributes. For manufacturers, EPEAT provides flexibility to choose which optional criteria they would like to meet to achieve higher levels of EPEAT qualification.
The Development of EPEAT
The EPEAT system and environmental criteria were developed in a 2-year multi-stakeholder process that was facilitated by the Zero Waste Alliance on a grant from the US EPA.
EPEAT Management and Governance
EPEAT is incorporated as a 501(c)(4) "social benefit" not-for-profit organization in Portland, Oregon, USA. EPEAT Inc. has a fiduciary Board of Directors that ensures the proper legal and financial management of EPEAT. The current members of EPEAT's Board of Directors are identified below.
EPEAT is managed and operated by staff contracted from the Green Electronics Council. The GEC is part of the International Sustainable Development Foundation which is a 501(c)(3) "charitable" not-for-profit organization also located in Portland.
EPEAT is primarily overseen by the EPEAT Board of Advisors, an unpaid 12-person advisory board whose membership is a balanced representation of the stakeholders who developed EPEAT: environmental advocates, institutional purchasers, manufacturers, government policy professionals, researchers, and electronics recyclers. The current members of the EPEAT Board of Advisors are identified below. The EPEAT Board of Directors has legal authority over EPEAT but they are substantially guided by the recommendations of the EPEAT Board of Advisors. The Board of Advisors operates on a consensus decision-making basis.
The Board of Advisors meets by teleconference about every two months and in-person annually. Non-members are generally welcome at the meetings and can generally share in the discussion but cannot vote.
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