EPEAT TV, Imaging Draft Standards Sent to IEEE for Balloting

EPEAT came closer to adding TVs and imaging gear to its certification program (CED April 25 p4), with two IEEE working groups voting to send draft standards for the devices to the IEEE Standards Association for balloting. EPEAT, whose ratings are used by governments and institutions to make purchases of environmentally preferable products, now covers computers and displays. The vote was a “huge milestone” because “finding compromise and consensus” among diverse stakeholders is “frankly, really hard,” said Wayne Rifer, EPEAT director of standards and co-chair of the IEEE Environmental Standards Committee.

The working groups had representatives from manufacturers, activists like the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and the Basel Action Network, recyclers, government and private purchasers and suppliers, EPEAT Outreach Director Sarah O'Brien told us. Stakeholders came from the U.K., China, Taiwan, Canada and the U.S., she said. Working group approval of the draft standards needed a 75 percent vote, “not once but twice,” EPEAT said. “Given the length and depth of the commitment required of participants, the international participation in the process, and the directly opposing views of many of the stakeholders on crucial issues, reaching the 75 percent threshold not once but twice is an astounding success,” said Rifer.

The EPA and the CE industry provided some money for “facilitators” of the standards process, O'Brien said. Asked if thorny issues such as third-party certification of Energy Star and the top-tier “most efficient” program being piloted this year by the EPA had been dealt with in the draft standards, she said that since Energy Star officials were “involved in the discussion and debates I expect those issues were brought up.” There was considerable debate on the Energy Star TV specification, she said, because some manufacturers of larger TVs were “concerned about the impact Energy Star” might have on larger TVs.

The IEEE balloting process typically takes about six months, O'Brien said. The certification body does take comments and is likely to make some tweaks to the draft standards, she said. But changes usually are made in areas like terminology and standards “consistency” because “substantive issues have been hashed out” in the working groups, she said. The expectation is that the TV and imaging standards will be published in January or February, O'Brien said.