UL to Add Green Electronics Information to Sustainability Database
Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL) today announced an agreement to add Green Electronics Council's EPEAT registered products to SPOT®, UL's web-based product sustainability information tool. The addition of products from the EPEAT registry will provide SPOT users with access to more than 12,000 additional products including mobile phones, computers, tablets displays, televisions and imaging equipment (printers, copiers, MFDs, etc).
Servers will also be added once they are available in June. The addition of these products to SPOT will help professional and government purchasers identify Information Technology (IT) products that comply with sustainable purchasing requirements and guidelines.
The need to easily identify sustainable products is increasing, especially with IT products. In 2017, 1.5 billion mobile phones were sold worldwide, more than doubling the global shipments of mobile phones just five years ago. By choosing more sustainable mobile phones, purchasers can help reduce e-waste, decrease the use of toxic substances, improve device packaging, avoid conflict minerals, support fair labor practices, and more.
Procurement professionals who need to meet sustainable procurement requirements can search SPOT's more than 50,000 sustainable products by certification programs that are recognized by government purchasing guidelines, such as those recommended by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
"SPOT is the industry's largest credible sustainable product database and the inclusion of EPEAT products will make it the go-to tool for private sector and government purchasers to find sustainable IT products," said Alberto Uggetti, vice president and general manager of UL Environment.
"Public and private sector large-scale purchasers in more than 43 countries rely on EPEAT and we are pleased that the upcoming inclusion of EPEAT products in SPOT will give purchasers access to the most comprehensive online product search platform for them to easily identify sustainable IT products that meet federal sustainable purchasing requirements,” Uggetti added.
"A key focus for the Green Electronics Council is to provide institutional purchasers access to a wide selection of high-performance, sustainable, and cost-competitive IT products, and by partnering with UL to feature EPEAT products on SPOT, we are making it easier for purchasers to engage in sustainable procurement," said Nancy Gillis, CEO of the Green Electronics Council. "Together with UL we are committed to empowering institutional purchasers to put their spend behind sustainable products and make a difference."
SPOT database is powered by UL, a leading safety science company and developer of globally-recognized sustainability standards with a 120+ year history. In addition to the SPOT add-in for Autodesk® Revit™, UL is developing tools such as expanded listings to enhance the ability to find and select healthier, more sustainable products.
