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EPEAT Celebrates First Anniversary of Launch in India

Nearly 3 million EPEAT-registered electronics sold,

generating significant environmental, energy, and cost savings benefits over their lifetime.

PORTLAND, Oregon – July 23, 2015 – Today the Green Electronics Council and the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development celebrate the one-year anniversary of their collaborative launch of EPEAT, the definitive global rating system for greener electronics, in India.

Nearly 3 million (2,962,734) EPEAT-registered electronic products were purchased from India-based manufacturers between July and January 2014[1]. These products’ environmentally sensitive design, energy efficient functioning and responsible management support at end-of-life will result in significant environmental benefits and energy savings over their lifetime, as depicted in the India Environmental Benefits infographic.  

Since July 2014, the number of EPEAT-compliant devices has risen from 145 PC and display models to 266 PC and display models and 35 copiers, printers and multi-function devices, bringing the total number of India registrations to 301 – a 108% increase since the program’s inception.

“We partnered with GEC to launch EPEAT in India and introduce this useful tool to enhance the environmental stewardship of Indian Industry and to also provide an opportunity for them to come at-par with globally recognized product standards,” said Seema Arora, Executive Director of the CII-CESD. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with GEC to sensitize Indian Industry, including bulk consumers, about greening their electronics purchasing and ICT operations.”

Participating manufacturers registering products in India include Acer, Dell, HP, Ricoh and Bangalore-based VXL Instruments.

“In our direction towards a sustainable society, Ricoh is proud to use EPEAT in leading the way to higher, more reliable and comprehensive levels of environmental excellence for our internal operations and for reducing the carbon footprint of our customers,” said Manoj Kumar, Managing Director and CEO of Ricoh India Ltd.

“As an India-based company, VXL has found EPEAT registration to be an important qualification for Global market access, given the numbers of potential customers who require compliance with this global standard. We are very happy that EPEAT is also available to help Indian consumers simply and easily improve their environmental performance through procuring environmentally superior products. Furthermore, as we look to the future, we remain committed to the expansion of EPEAT registered products as part of our ongoing sustainable environmental strategy,” said Arun Bhuwania, Chairman, VXL Instruments.

Electronics producers in India have welcomed the opportunity to certify their products’ environmental attributes. Bulk consumers in Indian government and enterprise sectors are increasingly looking to EPEAT specifications to identify high-performance, environmentally preferable computers, monitors, copiers and printers, integrating EPEAT specifications in a growing number of public and private tenders in India for electronic products.

“The Indian electronics hardware sector is not only growing rapidly but also maturing in terms of its involvement with sustainability,” said Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director of MAIT. “EPEAT provides our members with a very useful framework for quantifying and communicating environmental value to their customers. We expect use of the EPEAT system will continue to expand rapidly in India for that reason.” 

Measurable benefits for the environment

Over their lifetime, EPEAT-registered products purchased in India in 2014, compared to non-compliant products, will:

• Reduce use of primary materials by 98,933 metric tons, equivalent to the weight of 2,727 cargo trucks
• Reduce use of toxic materials by 46 metric tons, including enough mercury to fill nearly 26,971 household mercury fever thermometers
• Avoid the disposal of 1,785 metric tons of hazardous waste, equivalent to the weight of 14,515 refrigerators
• Eliminate the equivalent of more than 1,092 U.S. households’ annual solid waste—2,042 metric tons

Energy-Related Savings

EPEAT’s requirement that registered products meet the latest ENERGY STAR specifications means these products will consume less energy throughout their useful life, resulting in:

• Savings of over 27.6 crores kWh of electricity—enough to power 259,740 average electrified Indian homes for a year[2]
• Decrease of more than 391 metric tons of water pollutant emissions
• Reduction of nearly 49,366 Metric Tons Carbon Equivalent (MTCE) of greenhouse gas emissions—equivalent to taking more than 35,492 average U.S. passenger cars off the road for a year

Critically for purchasers, who must attend to both economic and environmental savings, bulk consumers of India-registered EPEAT products will save an estimated USD $85 lakhs (~54.3 crores of rupees)[3] in energy costs in the first year of use alone, reducing energy usage by 85,490,530 kWh compared to use of products that do not meet the latest ENERGY STAR specifications.

 “We are very happy to see the rapid growth of EPEAT awareness and use in India since last year’s launch,” said Robert Frisbee, CEO of the Green Electronics Council. “Embracing sustainable products is consistent with India’s continued leadership in the global ICT sector. And the remarkable benefits to end users and the environment from these first six months’ purchases are just the beginning.”

About EPEAT

EPEAT is the definitive global environmental rating system for electronics. The EPEAT Registry includes the most products from the broadest range of manufacturers and spans the widest array of countries. EPEAT combines strict, comprehensive criteria for design, production, energy use and recycling with ongoing independent verification of manufacturer claims. More than 757 million EPEAT-registered products have been sold worldwide since 2006, resulting in significant environmental benefits. EPEAT was developed through a stakeholder consensus process and is managed by the Green Electronics Council, a non-profit organization based in Portland, Oregon. Learn more at epeat.net.