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By Laton McCartney
Last year the U.S. federal government incorporated a key requirement into the Federal Acquisition Regulations that all Federal agencies purchase 95% or higher EPEAT (Electronic Product Assessment Tool) registered, environmentally preferable electronic products.
Well, as of April 22, Earth Day, the numbers are in from the previous year's purchasing, and "more than half the Federal agencies have already reached or exceeded that 95% or higher EPEAT purchase level," says Sarah O'Brien, outreach and communications, Green Electronics Council, which manages EPEAT. "This is particularly striking in light of recent reports showing very low Federal purchaser compliance with other environmental purchasing policies such as energy efficiency requirements."
The Department of Veteran Affairs is already 100% EPEAT compliant, having leased or purchased 290,623 Dell desktop and monitors prior to December 2008 that were EPEAT gold or silver products.
"The VA has been able to move with remarkable speed in becoming EPEAT compliant," O'Brien told CIOZone. It didn't hurt that a VA purchasing agent helped establish EPEAT standards at the outset of the program, she notes.
Other agencies that have exceeded the 95% bar include Social Security (100%); General Services Administration (100%) Treasury (99.7%); Commerce (97%); and Energy (96%). Many of the remaining agencies that have not yet reached the 95% or better goal, are already up in the 80% range, O'Brien says.
Has the economic downturn stalled the EPEAT program at all? No, says O'Brien because there's no differential in price between EPEAT-compliant desktops, monitors and laptops and non-compliant hardware. Some agencies, however, have not been able to move as quickly as their counterparts, O'Brien explains, because their operations are geographically dispersed, and they lack centralized control of purchasing.
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