Orange County Register

Going green doesn’t always mean that you’ll spend more money. It could mean saving money. And I do like saving money effortlessly.

Energy Star, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s voluntary program that rates home appliances for energy savings, also includes computers and that little blue label can indicate whether a PC will cost you less in energy bills. (There’s also EPEAT, but more on that later…).

In fact, computers were the first products to qualify for the Energy Star label back in 1992, said Maria Vargas, Energy Star’s director of communications. The program added stricter criteria last July. Computers that qualify use 20 to 50 percent less energy then other computers. Today, there are 180 million Energy Star computers out there and about 500 models are available.

Yet, I don’t remember ever seeing a little blue label on a computer.

They’re out there, Vargas says, but there are reasons for the lack of consumer awareness. Initially, Energy Star labels weren’t required. Now they appear when a computer boots up, plus they are on product literature and packaging.

Another reason was lack of incentive. PC makers focused on government clients, instead of consumers, because the federal government required all of its computers be Energy Star certified. Consumer PCs have also historically focused on marketing speed and performance.

And while an Energy Star computer shouldn’t cost more than others, long-term monetary savings aren’t substantial. Vargas estimates that under the new requirements, Energy Star desktop computers save between $30 to $60 on a user’s energy bill during the life of the computer. She didn’t have an estimate for laptops. (Check the program’s computer calculator to get an idea of savings.)

“The benefit comes from knowing the purchase is a contribution to becoming more energy efficient,” Vargas said. “We don’t want to say that you will save enough to go on vacation. It’s just smart to do.”

According to the EPA, if every home and business user nationwide replaced their old computers with new Energy Star ones, we would save “more than $1.8 billion in energy costs over the next five years and avoid greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to more than 2.7 million cars.”

These days, it’s difficult to find a tech company without a green policy, said Stephen Baker, an analyst with market researcher The NPD Group.

But he doesn’t think consumers are buying computers because of any environmental incentive. Companies, however, are caving to peer pressure and touting their own green efforts.

“It’s much more about trying to avoid the negative. Remember the hit Apple took when Greenpeace went after them? It wasn’t a positive. Apple had to tell people about all the good stuff they did. Everybody has to do this because if you don’t, your competitors will market against it saying you don’t do this,” Baker said.

Energy Star’s new criteria requires energy-efficiency features for all modes of operation — off, sleep mode and even while active and running. Also new, the internal power supply must be at least 80 percent efficient. A detailed explanation of efficiency standards is available from the EPA (click HERE). Last November, the program announced that more than 35 manufacturers were part of the program. Today, it’s 48 and so far, there are around 497 computers that qualify, Vargas said.

Consumers interested in an Energy Star computer should look for the blue label. You can also search the program’s site, which offers a clunky tool at the bottom of the page. There’s also a list of qualified computers. The list is constantly changing and is supposed to include only available models. Energy Star also rates monitors, printers and scanners. Game consoles are also part of the computer ratings program but looking at the list, none have been approved.

Another EPA factoid: For every 100 computers a business replaces with computers meeting the new Energy Star specification, it will save $175 per year on energy bills and more than $670 over the lifetime of the computers.

Coming in November, Energy Star is upping the ante for TVs, which will need to be 30 percent more efficient than conventional TVs to get the blue label. They also must save energy when turned on an off (previously, Energy Star just looked at TVs in the off mode). Says the EPA, if all TVs sold in the U.S. met this new requirement, the savings in energy costs would be $1 billion annually and greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by the equivalent of 1 million cars.

EPEAT: Another alternative

For those who don’t list “saving money”as a primary reason to go green, there’s also a program from the Green Electronics Council called EPEAT, short for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. It rates electronics on 51 criteria, including reduction of certain chemicals, include recycled material and provide an end-of-life design so it’s easier to reuse or recycle. It also must be an Energy Star-approved computer.

EPEAT Registered Products Search Tool
Product				Total
Desktops	4	58	38	100
Integrated Systems	0	11	0	11
Monitors	6	284	12	302
Notebooks	4	127	14	145
Totals	14	480	64	558

GEC’s program focuses more on business customers who make bulk computer purchases but it is available to consumers as a way to identify environmental friendly technology. But even the program mentions that it may be difficult to find EPEAT-certified consumer computers “because consumers have historically not been very interested in eco-friendly electronics.” An EPEAT computer may cost more.

EPEAT-certified computers aren’t easy to find but the organization has as recommended seller, Buy.com in Aliso Viejo. The store updated its site Monday to make it easier to find EPEAT computers. At www.buy.com/epeat on Monday, it listed 95 laptops, 22 desktops and 76 monitors that are EPEAT certified.

For more on green technology see the E-waste recycling guide and other green tech goodies.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.