Regulations of green Computing

Government

Many governmental agencies have implemented standards and regulations that encourage green computing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star program, which was launched in 1992, was revised in October 2006 to include stricter efficiency requirements for computer equipment, and a tiered ranking system for approved products.[2][3] In Europe, the Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees certifies personal computers, monitors, and other office equipment that meets the ergonomics, energy usage, emissions, and hazardous substances requirements of the TCO Certification program. The European Union's directives 2002/95/EC (RoHS), on the reduction of hazardous substances, and 2002/96/EC (WEEE) on waste electrical and electronic equipment required the substitution of heavy metals and flame retardants like PBBs and PBDEs in all electronic equipment put on the market starting on 2006-07-01. The directives placed responsibility on manufacturers for the gathering and recycling of old equipment.

In 2003, the California State Senate enacted the Electronic Waste Recycling Act, which establishes a state-wide recycling program for obsolete computer and consumer electronics equipment.[4] To pay for the program, the Act imposes a fee for each unit sold at retail, based on the size of the display.[5] The Act also establishes restrictions on hazardous substances, equal to the European Union's RoHS Directive.[6]

In 2008, a report published in the UK by the Department for Communities and Local Government, quantified that the potential carbon savings from increasing the usage of online public service delivery were significantly in excess of the negative impact of extra IT server capacity.[7]

Industry

* The Green Electronics Council offers the Electronic Products Environmental Assesment Tool (EPEAT) to assist in the purchase of "green" computing systems. The Council evaluates computing equipment on 28 criteria that measure a product's efficiency and sustainability attributes. On 2007-01-24, President George W. Bush issued Executive Order 13423, which requires all United States Federal agencies to use EPEAT when purchasing computer systems.[8][9]


* The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems. It was founded in February 2007 by several key companies in the industry – AMD, APC, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Rackable Systems, SprayCool, Sun Microsystems and VMware. The Green Grid has since grown to hundreds of members, including end users and government organizations, all focused on improving data center efficiency.


* IBM Project Big Green is a 1 billion-USD-per-year effort by IBM to design and promote energy efficiency in corporate data centers.[10] Launched in May 2007.


* Climate Savers Computing Initiative (CSCI) is an effort to reduce the electric power consumption of PCs in active and inactive states.[11] The CSCI provides a catalog of green products from it's member organizations, and information for reducing PC power consumption. It was started on 2007-06-12. The name stems from the World Wildlife Fund's Climate Savers program, which was launched in 1999.[12] The WWF is also a member of the Computing Initiative.