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Federal Electronics Challenge
More on Working
to Prevent Pollution
The Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC) is a partnership program that empowers federal agencies to manage their electronics in an environmentally sound manner during all three life-cycle phases - acquisition and procurement, operation and maintenance, and end-of-life management.
The FEC supports efforts to continuously improve environmental stewardship of electronic assets government-wide in order to better assist federal agencies and facilities in meeting the requirements of Executive Order 13423. The FEC also provides resources and technical assistance to help federal agencies and facilities improve electronics management throughout the lifecycle.
OPPT manages the FEC program, and coordinates with the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive, EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Office of Environmental Information, and all 10 EPA Regions to develop and disseminate information on best management practices for electronics. The goals of this OPPT program are being achieved in part by assisting federal agencies and their facilities in:
- Purchasing environmentally preferable electronic equipment, including computer desktops, laptops, and monitors registered under the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT™)
- Enabling ENERGY STAR power management features on computers and monitors
- Extending the life span of equipment through internal reuse and donation
- Increasing the recovery rate and expanding the infrastructure for environmentally sound electronics recycling
Accomplishments
- As of May 2008, FEC had 16 Federal Agency Partners and 186 Facility Partners, representing more than 644,000 federal employees.
- Thirty FEC partners received a 2008 FEC Award for their accomplishments in 2007:
- Two partners from two agencies received an FEC Gold Award
- Ten partners from five agencies received an FEC Silver Award
- Eighteen partners from seven agencies received an FEC Bronze Award
- Twelve partners from four agencies received an FEC Gold Award
- Seven partners from four agencies received an FEC Silver Award
- Eight partners from five agencies received an FEC Bronze Award
Twenty-seven FEC partners received a 2007 FEC Award for their accomplishments in 2006:
Award applicants were required to complete specific electronics stewardship activities in one or more electronics life cycle phases, which are designed to put partners on a path towards achieving the goals of Executive Order 13423.
- For Fiscal Year (FY) 2007, FEC partners reported the following activities:
- 80 percent of computer desktops, laptops and monitors purchased or leased were EPEAT™ Bronze, Silver or Gold-registered
- 71 percent of computers have at least a 4-year life span, with a weighted average life span of 47 months
- 86 percent of monitors and 69 percent of computers had ENERGY STARŪ features enabled
- 99 percent of non-reusable computers were recycled in environmentally sound manner
- Energy savings of 210,087 megawatt-hours, enough electricity to power 18,526 U.S. households for one year
- Primary material savings of over 137,000 metric tons, equivalent to the weight of 1,069,182 refrigerators
- Air emission savings of over 860,000 metric tons, including greenhouse gas emission savings of over 16,000 metric tons of carbon equivalent, equal to removing 13,043 passenger cars from the road for one year
- Water emission savings of 1,800 metric tons
- Toxic material savings of 10 metric tons, equal to the weight of 5,317 bricks
- Municipal solid waste savings of almost 2,000 metric tons equivalent to the solid waste generated by 1,002 U.S. households in one year
- Hazardous waste savings of over 830 metric tons, equal to the weight of 415,631 bricks
- Cost savings of $18.2 million
These FY 2007 activities translate into the following environmental benefits, which are attributable to the work of many different EPA programs (FEC, EPEAT™, ENERGY STARŪ, and Plug-In To eCycling):
