Computacenter and Green Electronics Council Team Up To Help Companies Buy Green

Computacenter and the Green Electronics Council today announced a joint partnership to help companies purchase environmentally friendly IT equipment using the Green Electronics Council's EPEAT system.

The EPEAT system is a framework which procurement professionals can use to identify green, high performance PC’s and monitors. It is based on a number of environmental standards including the WEEE and RoHS directives and Energy Star. To obtain EPEAT accreditation, products need to meet a number of criteria including energy conservation, reduction or elimination of environmentally sensitive materials and packaging.

EPEAT also offers an online Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator which enables corporate and Government IT decision-makers to estimate exactly how their purchases of EPEAT-registered products reduce environmental impact.

Computacenter will modify the calculator to reflect the UK's current energy mix and also aims in the near future to provide calculators to reflect the specific energy mix of individual organisations. This will enable companies to audit their IT estates in order to benchmark performance and identify what equipment needs to be updated.

Heidi-Lynn Mitchell, Product Services Director at Computacenter comments, "Companies require a robust method to select high performance, environmentally-sound IT products. The EPEAT system, complemented by Computacenter's power consumption benchmarking service, provides IT decision makers with a simple way to do this so they can reduce the environmental impact of their future IT estates."

Scot Case, spokesperson for EPEAT added, "The Green Electronics Council is delighted to be partnering with Europe's largest IT infrastructure services provider on this issue. EPEAT fits well with Computacenter's Green IT Advisory Service which helps companies develop more effective environmental policies for the acquisition, operation, re-use and disposal of IT equipment. We look forward to working with Computacenter to offer its customers advice on understanding the environmental attributes of their IT estates." EPEAT registered products are high-performance, business-class computers and cost no more than conventional products. However, compared to traditional computer equipment, all EPEAT-registered computers have reduced levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury to better protect human health and the environment. They are more energy efficient, which reduces emissions of global warming greenhouse gases, and they are also easier to upgrade and recycle.

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Click here for more information about Computacenter's environmental sustainability offerings

About EPEAT
The EPEAT framework was developed through a three-year consensus-based process among manufacturers, environmental groups, academic experts and institutional purchasers in the United States. In EPEAT, manufacturers declare that their products meet at least 23 stringent environmental criteria in the eight performance categories. EPEAT regularly audits the products once registered and has the power to remove products from the registry if they are found not to meet the criteria as declared. To find out more, visit www.epeat.net

About Green Electronics Council
The Green Electronics Council partners with environmental organisations, government agencies, manufacturers and other interested stakeholders to improve the environmental and social performance of electronic products. In January 2006, it received a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promote and implement the EPEAT green computer standard. To find out more, visit www.greenelectronicscouncil.org

About Computacenter
Computacenter is Europe’s leading independent provider of IT infrastructure services. To help our customers maximise the value of IT to their businesses, we offer services at every stage of infrastructure investment. We can advise customers on their IT strategy, implement the most appropriate technology from a wide range of leading vendors and manage elements of their technology infrastructures on their behalf. At every stage we help them minimise the cost and maximise the business value of their IT expenditure. Our corporate and government clients are served by a network of branch offices across the UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium and, through our international partners, at locations across the globe. To find out more, visit www.computacenter.com

Media contacts
Helen Ablett/ Fiona McKenzie
Octopus Communications for Computacenter
0845 3700 655 or computacenter@octopuscomms.net

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