Jared Seltzer faced more than the usual megabyte headaches recently while shopping for a desktop computer for his office in Takoma Park, Maryland.
As the information technology director of the Center for a New American Dream, a small environmental group, he wanted to buy a computer that would be relatively easy on the ecosystem.
His search brought him to the Dell Web site, where he ended up chosing an OptiPlex model that had been refurbished.
PHOTO: NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
"I wasn't losing anything by not buying new," Seltzer said. "And it was good that I was being true to what we're about."
Refurbished computers, he explained, are not generally made from old clunkers on their last legs. They are typically returned by buyers shortly after delivery and spruced up by the manufacturer. And they often have the same guarantees that new computers do.
Like many other consumers, Seltzer is concerned about the environmental effects of computers, which can contain hazardous substances including lead, cadmium and mercury, among others.
Hazards occur when these substances are extracted from the earth and, on the other end, when they are disposed of. At either end, toxic substances can find their way into the air, soil, water and eventually into people, where they have the potential to cause serious health problems.
Refurbished computers lessen the blow to the environment because they have effectively been recycled, albeit at warp speed. They can also be easier on the bank account. Seltzer's desktop cost him US$379 -- less than half the US$800 price of a new one.
Lynn Rubinstein, executive director of the Northeast Recycling Council in Brattleboro, Vermont, faced a similar challenge when she needed to replace her personal laptop in October. She could not find a refurbished model to fit her needs, so she consulted the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or Epeat, an electronics rating system available for free at www.epeat.net.
The system, now five months old, is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and is meant primarily for bulk buyers. But it is useful for individuals, too. Electronics -- only computers now, with more products to follow -- can be achieve ratings of gold, silver or bronze.
Ratings are largely on the honor system, subject to reviews by the Green Electronics Council, a nonprofit group in Portland, Oregon, that maintains the list. Manufacturers score their products against a set of environmental standards, including levels of hazardous substances, energy efficiency and ease of recycling. There are 23 requirements just to win a bronze.
More than 300 types of desktops, laptops and monitors have received at least a bronze.
Epeat-rated computers are likely to save buyers money on their electric bills. The EPA estimates that 600,000 megawatts of energy, as well as 5.9 million kilograms of hazardous waste, will be saved over the next five years by the purchase of Epeat-rated computers.
Consumers seeking new environmentally sound computers may also want to consider keeping their existing ones just a while longer, said Diganta Das, a research scientist at the Center for Advanced Life Cycle Engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park.
There will be a much broader selection of green computers by 2008 because all manufacturers are under pressure to make their products meet hazardous-substance standards.
The push is coming from new technology and government initiatives. The most important political change came in July, when the EU issued its Restrictions on Hazardous Substances. The directive essentially will require all manufacturers and retailers selling their products in the EU to greatly reduce the presence of six hazards.
There is nothing like those standards in the US, but the directive is nonetheless having an impact. Wal-Mart Stores, for example, said last spring that it would sell the first laptop compliant with the European standards in the US: a US$700 Toshiba model.
Concerns about the environment don't end once a computer has been bought.
According to the National Safety Council, three-quarters of all existing computers are sitting in closets and other places where they are no longer being used. Besides the closet option, there are two other main solutions -- disposal and recycling.
Disposal, however, is the hardest on the environment. In May, New Hampshire became the fourth state to ban the disposal of all video display devices from landfills and incinerators.
As for the recycling option, many localities offer programs. But the best recycling route may be the one back to the source. Many manufacturers now take back old computers for free, and some of their parts can be reused.
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