Ron McCandless, right, ORAU buyer, represented ORAU to receive a 2017 EPEAT Sustainable Purchaser Award presented by Green Electronics Council CEO Nancy Gillis, third from right, during the organization’s recent awards ceremony. The award recognizes ORAU’s excellence in the procurement of green electronics. Also pictured are Josh Silverman, director of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Protection; Teresa Krannig, IT specialist for East Tennessee Technology Park; Jeanne Beard, director of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Information Systems; Melanie Bower, EPEAT Director; and Chris Shannon, project administrator for the DOE Mission Support Alliance Project. (Submitted photo)
ORAU was named among the winners of the Green Electronics Council’s 2017 EPEAT (Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) Sustainable Purchaser Award for the third year in a row. The award 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.
ORAU was among 10 organizations to receive a three-star rating, the highest possible, for its commitment to purchasing EPEAT-registered products in three categories: PCs and displays, imaging equipment, and televisions, a press release said. The Green Electronics Council awards one star for each category.
Other three-star award winners were: El Paso Intelligence Center; Loyola University Chicago; Mission Support Alliance, CH2M Hill PRC, Washington River Protection Solutions; National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy; Office of Investigative Technology, U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; Office of Training, DEA; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, DOE; U.S. Department of Homeland Security; and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
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 reduction.
In 2016, by purchasing EPEAT-registered products over conventional electronics, ORAU reduced its electricity use by 181,120 kilowatt hours or enough energy to power 14 U.S. homes for a year, and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 32.5 metric tons, the equivalent of taking 23 average U.S. passenger cars off the road for a year, the press release said.
The combined environmental benefit of this year’s 37 EPEAT Sustainable Purchasing Award winners includes greenhouse gas reductions equivalent to removing more than 40,000 passenger cars from the road for a year; a reduction of nearly 769 metric tons of hazardous waste; solid waste savings equivalent to that produced by 2,078 average U.S. households each year; a reduction in energy usage by 327.5 million kilowatt hours; and avoidance of 513.8 metric tons of water pollution emissions.
To learn more about the Green Electronics Council’s EPEAT program, visit www.epeat.net.
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