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We found an interesting post over at one of our favorite websites: Earth Techling.

So the first finding from our post so far: go ahead and make a note to visit and subscribe to that site if you are at all interested in the interesection of technology and envrionment.

Now, on to their story.  It's about a series of electronics certifications for environmental responsibility, given by the Green Electronics Council, their tool, EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool), and a new designation which you may see alot of, called EcoSense - which we've featured at the top of *our* posting.

From the Earth Techling article:

EcoSense will be used to identify sustainable electronics from computers to TVs, printers to mobile devices and likely tablet PCs. And yes, it could be a very big deal.

EPEAT, which is managed by the non-profit Green Electronics Council, is probably the most comprehensive sustainability identifier you’ve never heard of. To be listed on the EPEAT registry, products must meet more than 50 different criteria, from energy efficiency to RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) compliance to ease of recycling. Computers listed on its registry must comply with 28 mandatory criteria, with 23 remaining optional. A Bronze designation denotes meeting the minimum 28 criteria, while a Silver product also meets 50 percent or more of optional criteria and a Gold-designated product meets 75 percent or more of the options.

Why is this important to project managers?  Well, we get involved in procurement, don't we?  And procurement has elements like constraints and contracts and guidelines.

From the article:

The (EPEAT) registry is used primarily by government agencies and large corporate purchasers to meet mandates for buying green computers. Some 95 percent of computers purchased by many U.S. government agencies, for example, must be EPEAT-certified. An estimated 100 million computers a year are sold based on the EPEAT designation.

So this is not at all trivial to business and not at all trivial to your project.

EPEAT’s criteria is based on IEEE 1680 standards, each of which can take a year or more to develop and finalize. O’Brien says it’s unclear whether tablets will be included under the mobile devices or the computer standard, the latter of which will undergo a revamp starting this fall.


Just to show that this is gaining traction, again from the article:


The EcoSense designation is currently being tested at an Office Depot store in Portland, Ore., and O’Brien says other partners like Staples would like to test the designation as well. EcoSense will be the consumer face of EPEAT, though whether EcoSense will have gold, silver or bronze designations remains to be seen.
From the EPEAT website:

EPEAT® is the definitive global registry for greener electronics. It’s an easy-to-use resource for purchasers, manufacturers, resellers and others wanting to find and promote environmentally preferable products.

Our vision: A world where the negative environmental and social impacts of electronics are continually reduced and electronic products are designed to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainability

Our mission: Operate the most successful global environmental rating system for electronic products, helping connect purchasers to environmentally preferable choices, and thereby benefiting producers who demonstrate environmental responsibility and innovation

Our values: Leadership, transparency, continuous improvement, collaboration and market-orientation

 

For the techies out there, here is an outline of the EPEAT criteria:


    Introduction
    Protocols 4.0 Manufacturer declaration
    Protocols 4.1 Reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials
    Protocols 4.2 Materials selection
    Protocols 4.3 Design for end-of-life
    Protocols 4.4 Product longevity/life cycle extension
    Protocols 4.5 Energy convervation
    Protocols 4.6 End-of-life management
    Protocols 4.7 Corporate performance
    Protocols 4.8 Packaging
    Annex 1 Plastics materials form
    Annex 2 Packaging materials form
    Annex 3 Plug-in guidelines checklist

These protocols are all available as hyperlinks on the EPEAT site, provided below.

http://www.epeat.net/resources/criteria-verification/


Posted by Richard Maltzman on: August 16, 2012 11:10 PM | Permalink

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