Going green is becoming an increasingly important initiative to many companies these days, but some are going above and beyond to please Mother Nature. In July, the Green Electronics Council recognized more than 60 desktop computers, laptops and monitors from Dell , HP, and other manufacturers for meeting new green standards and registering their equipment with the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool database. Compared to traditional computer equipment, all EPEAT-registered computer devices have reduced levels of lead, mercury and cadmium to better protect the health of individuals as well as the environment. They are also more energy-efficient -- which reduces their emissions of climate-changing greenhouse gases -- and are easier to upgrade and recycle. "Making products more energy-efficient doesn't necessarily require more effort or more resources, it really is just a change in the design methodology," Jim McGregor, principal analyst at In-Stat, told TechNewsWorld. "For a computing standpoint, [reducing power] is the key topic driving future designs of everything from microprocessors to LCDs. We are no longer in the performance age of computing, we are now in the efficiency age." Getting companies to manufacture more environmentally preferable products is much easier with EPEAT, Jeff Omelchuck, executive director of the Green Electronics Council, told TechNewsWorld. Already more than US$32 billion worth of computer-related purchasing references EPEAT. "When you pile $32 billion on a table and announce that you want to buy more environmentally preferable products meeting the EPEAT standard, manufacturers tend to respond," he said. Apple, CTL, Dell and HP have demonstrated their environmental leadership by designing and building better products and registering them with EPEAT, according to Omelchuck. "Other companies appear to be doing wonderful things, but they have not yet publicly demonstrated those commitments by registering products on the EPEAT database," he said. "That is the real value of EPEAT -- it is the ultimate antidote to greenwashing. By creating a searchable database of products and environmental attributes, it makes it very easy to compare products and identify the true leaders." Dell, for one, has led the industry in several areas of environmental responsibility, including focusing on energy efficiency, end-of-life product recovery and the reduction and elimination of environmentally sensitive materials. As of the launch of the EPEAT tool on July 21, Dell has registered 28 EPEAT-compliant products, including select OptiPlex desktops, Precision workstations -- both desktop and mobile versions -- Latitude notebooks and flat panel monitors. News source: Tech News world Read full story...
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