Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a system to help 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 its products.
EPEAT evaluates electronic products according to three tiers of environmental performance - Bronze, Silver and Gold. The complete set of performance criteria includes 23 required criteria and 28 optional criteria in 8 categories. To qualify for acceptance as an EPEAT product, it must conform to all the required criteria. Manufacturers may pick and choose among the optional criteria to boost their EPEAT baseline "score" to achieve a higher-ranking level as follows:
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EPEAT Bronze: Product meets all required criteria.
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EPEAT Sliver: Product meets all required criteria plus at least 50% of the optional criteria that apply to the product type being registered.
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EPEAT Gold: Product meets all required criteria plus at least 75% of the optional criteria that apply to the product type being registered.
What is the connection between EPEAT and ENERGY STAR 4.0?
EPEAT has as one of its required criteria that the product being evaluated is also ENERGY STAR certified.
According to section 4.5.11 of the EPEAT Required Criteria: All covered products shall comply with the version of U.S. ENERGY STAR that is applicable at the time of declaration. If an ENERGY STAR specification is modified, presently registered products shall have six months to update their declaration to the new version.
ENERGY STAR 4.0 changes in a nutshell
There are two fundamental changes from the current ENERGY STAR 3.0 program to the ENERGY STAR 4.0 that will have a decided impact on your organization should you choose to implement the new standards:
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Idle power under the operating system will now be measured and used as a metric to earn the ENERGY STAR 4.0 rating.
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An 80% efficient power supply is a requirement.
The difference between ENERGY STAR 3.0 and 4.0
ENERGY STAR 3.0 was concerned with Standby power. By 2005, all HP systems could meet the requirements. Since the customer adoption of Standby-state was slower than the EPA expected, the EPA had to focus attention to the growing number of computers that sat idle rather than transitioning into Standby.
In Standby, the number of storage devices, processor cores, graphics power, memory etc. makes very little difference to the power used. These devices are either turned off or are in a very low power state. However, in idle, all these devices are drawing power. The amount of memory or the number of hard drives has a big impact on power used. This is why the ENERGY STAR 3.0 configuration you were accustomed to buying in the past might not be a configuration that will meet ENERGY STAR 4.0 now. If you need (or simply want) to consider compliance, you have to look at the idle wattage, not just Standby.
The 80% efficient power supply is a principal requirement of Energy Star 4.0 and a major new innovation, as well a major component in increasing energy efficiency.
What is an 80% efficient power supply? When a power supply converts AC power from the wall to the various DC voltages that the computer needs, there is always a loss of power. The power loss varies with how busy the computer is. An 80% efficient power supply is guaranteed to lose less than 20% of the AC power at 20%, 50% and 100% loads. Currently, power supplies for desktop computers range from approximately 65% to 75% efficiency.
The lower idle specification plus the 80% efficient power supply together provide big benefits to your business beyond simple compliance:
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Increased power supply reliability due to greater efficiency
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Decreased system maintenance due to increased reliability
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Lower TCO due to reduced maintenance and longer equipment life
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Improved worker environment with less noise from the PC
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Potential reduction in cooling bill due to less heat being generated by PCs
HP was the first tier one PC manufacturer to offer 80% efficient power supplies as an energy savings option and have ENERGY STAR 4.0 compliant SKUs available to customers. HP offers great flexibility with the 80% efficient power supply, since it can be configured into any HP 5000 or 7000 Series Business Desktop PC.
Select HP Business Desktops allow you to achieve EPEAT compliance:
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HP was the first to achieve EPEAT Gold certification with the HP rp5700 Business Desktop PC.
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HP engineering and expertise led the way, helping to pioneer new standards in energy efficiency.
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HP has the broadest array of EPEAT Gold-rated products, which is the highest level of certification achievable. All form factors in the HP 5000 and HP 7000 Series Business Desktop PCs are available in EPEAT Gold-rated configurations. HP is the first to achieve Gold listing in the personal workstation computer category. The entire current generation of personal workstation computers including the HP xw4550 Workstation, the HP xw4600 Workstation, the HP xw6600 Workstation, the HP xw8600 Workstation and the HP xw9400 Workstation are now rated EPEAT Gold. Just look for an ENERGY STAR SKU, and rest assured that it is EPEAT Gold-rated as well.
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HP offers you the ability to stay up to date with the latest regulations while improving your energy efficiency and saving on your bottom line!
Through HP engineering and expertise, HP is the first manufacturer to offer an EPEAT Gold registered product with the new HP rp5700 Business Desktop PC. Find out more information at http://www.epeat.net/
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