What's the Difference Between Energy Star and EPEAT?

How do you choose computer hardware? Price? Features? Sales pitch? We urge you to consider using some standards that have been generated to help us understand the environmental impact of computer and tech hardware.

You are probably familiar with the EPA's Energy Star program, but do you know about EPEAT certification? EPEAT is a system that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes.

All EPEAT-rated computers are also Energy Star compliant. That is one of the EPEAT criterion. However, not all Energy Star computers and monitors are EPEAT-rated. Energy Star rates a wide variety of hardware, from refrigerators to TVs. They look only at the energy efficiency of the hardware. EPEAT has many more criteria, some of which include the types of materials used in creating, packaging, and shipping the hardware. Energy Star is a U.S.-based rating system. EPEAT, while developed in the United States, has now been adopted by over 40 countries around the world. Both have searchable lists of compliant hardware.