Cindy Snow (left), ORAU procurement manager, and Angela McConnell (right), ORAU contract specialist, were presented a 2016 EPEAT Sustainable Purchaser Award by Green Electronics Council CEO Nancy Gillis (center) during the organization’s recent awards ceremony. The award recognizes ORAU’s excellence in the procurement of green electronics. (Photo by ORAU)
ORAU has won an award that recognizes excellence in the procurement of “green” electronics, or those electronics that have been manufactured to conserve energy, eliminate environmentally sensitive materials, and increase recyclability, a press release said.
ORAU won the EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Sustainable Purchaser Award from the Green Electronics Council.
ORAU was among 10 corporations that received a three-star rating, the highest possible rating, indicating procurement of electronics in all three categories (personal computers and displays, imaging equipment, and televisions), the press release said.
The Green Electronics Council works with manufacturers, governments, trade associations, and environmental advocacy groups to evaluate and endorse environmentally responsible products. The EPEAT tool provides companies with a simplified way to purchase environmentally trustworthy electronics and to quantify their energy consumption reductions.
In 2015, by purchasing EPEAT-registered electronics instead of conventional electronics, ORAU reduced its electricity use by nearly 173,000 kilowatt hours—enough energy to power 14 U.S. homes for a year—and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 31 metric tons—equivalent to taking 23 average U.S. passenger cars off the road for a year.
The combined impact of this year’s 38 EPEAT Sustainable Purchasing Award winners resulted in more than $16.8 million in energy savings, greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to removing 29,786 passenger cars from the road for a year, and a reduction of more than 702 metric tons of hazardous waste.
Visit the EPEAT website for more information.
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