The Environmental Benefits of Buying EPEAT Green Computers

The Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (EEBC)

Supported by US EPA, the University of Tennessee Center for Clean Products developed an Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator (EEBC) which allows purchasers or other parties to calculate the specific environmental benefits from the purchase of EPEAT registered computers and monitors.

EPEAT Environmental Benefits Snapshots

Using the EEBC and sales data from manufacturers that participate in EPEAT, the Green Electronics Council annually publishes a report estimating the total environmental benefits arising from the purchase of all EPEAT registered products that year. A snapshot of this year’s calculated benefits follows. Click here for previous years’ benefits snapshots and full reports.

Environmental Benefits of EPEAT Purchases, 2008

2008 US purchases of EPEAT registered laptops, desktops, and monitors over conventional products will:

Reduce use of toxic materials, including mercury, by 1021 metric tons, equivalent to the weight of 510,949 bricks

Eliminate use of enough mercury to fill 149,685 household fever thermometers

Preclude the disposal of 43 thousand metric tons of hazardous waste, equivalent to the weight of almost 22 million bricks.

Eliminate 14,353 Metric Tons of solid waste, equivalent to the amount 7202 U.S. households generate in a year

In addition, due to EPEAT’s requirement that registered products meet ENERGY STAR’s energy efficiency specifications, these products will consume less energy throughout their useful life, resulting in:

Savings of over 8.39 billion kWh of electricity — enough to power over 700,000 US homes for a year

Reduction in use of 14.8 million metric tons of primary materials, equivalent to the weight of more than 114 million refrigerators

Avoidance of 34.2 million metric tons of air emissions (including greenhouse gas emissions) and over 71,000 metric tons of water pollutant emissions

Reduction of over 1.57 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions — equivalent to taking over one million US passenger cars off the road for a year

In addition to these benefits, reported global sales demonstrate EPEAT’s potential for reducing the environmental costs of computing worldwide. Despite only 27% of participating manufacturers reporting their Canadian EPEAT sales and only 20% reporting their Rest of World sales, the estimated benefit of EPEAT sales to these regions is still significant:

Reduction of 2.8 million metric tons of primary materials

Elimination of over a million kilograms of toxic materials, including enough mercury to fill 157,311 household fever thermometers

16,297 Metric Tons of solid waste eliminated

Greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 2.3 million US cars from the road for a year