CEA Touts ‘Tremendous Progress’ in CE Industry’s Green Initiatives

About 27,000 CE product models now meet Energy Star standards, CEA said Tuesday, citing the EPA. The CE industry made “tremendous progress” during the last three years in advancing green initiatives, including designing more energy efficiency products, cutting greenhouse gas emissions at facilities and building a national electronics recycling infrastructure, the group said as it released its 2010 sustainability report.

Energy Star CE devices help cut energy use 20-50 percent, the group said. The industry also made progress in greening product designs, the CEA said, citing a 10 percent growth in 2009 of U.S. electronics that were EPEAT certified. More than 48 million desktops, laptops and displays are now EPEAT registered, it said. Outside the U.S., there now are 8,500 EPEAT registered products, it said. The Green Electronics Council, which administers EPEAT, estimates that sale of EPEAT products in 2009 helped save more than 10 billion kilowatt hours of electricity, CEA said.

Many CE companies are embracing green packaging, switching to renewable materials like bio-based plastics or recyclable materials instead of clamshell packaging, the group said. DirecTV consolidated its shipments of receivers and dishes, reducing the use of cartons by more than 1 million in 2009, the report said. In 2011, all DirecTV’s products will be packed with 100 percent recyclable materials, it said. Many CE makers also have set “ambitious goals” for cutting greenhouse gas emissions at their facilities and others have started efforts to reduce power use in data centers, it said.

The CE industry recycled 200 million pounds of electronics in 2009, supporting more than 5,000 permanent collection sites nationwide, the group said. “More and more, our member companies are finding what makes good environmental sense also makes good business sense in the form of reduced costs and invigorated employees,” said Walter Alcorn, CEA’s vice president of environmental affairs.