A Little Greener Computer Arrives in Rural China | October 2006
China-U.S. Center Representative Mr. Ping Zhong is seen working in the demonstration village of Huangbaiyu in Liaoning Province with a newly acquired notebook computer. What makes the notebook special in addition to being produced by Hewlett Packard and powered by an Intel processor – both members of the Board of Councilors for the Center – is that the notebook has a Silver rating from the newly established EPEAT registry.
EPEAT is a web based procurement tool that helps institutional purchasers evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes – but anyone can access the website and use it to help make buying decisions. EPEAT also provides a clear and consistent set of performance criteria for the design of products. EPEAT’s environmental criteria are contained in a new public standard, IEEE 1680. EPEAT evaluates electronic products according to three tiers of environmental performance – Bronze, Silver and Gold. There are 51 total environmental criteria: 23 required criteria and 28 optional criteria.
Ping has been living and working in the village of Huangbaiyu since early summer 2006 to assist in the coordination of the demonstration projects with the villagers, local government, national government and international partners. Ping’s previous position was with the National Research Center for Science and Technology for Development in Beijing. He received Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in Engineering from Sichuan University and a Master of Science in Environmental Policy from Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
To find out which computers and monitors are greener, check out the EPEAT website.