The Green Grid Takes Giant StEP Towards E-Waste Leadership

PORTLAND, Ore., May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Green Grid, the global authority on resource efficient information technology and data centers, today announced a new alliance with international think tank Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) that will advance the "e-waste" discussion and foster solutions that help organizations understand and responsibly dispose of electronic equipment at the end of its useful life. This focus on office equipment and recycling represents a new area for The Green Grid, which is best known for its industry-leading measurements, metrics and best practices that improve resource efficiency in information technology and data centers.

The Green Grid sees equipment disposal as a natural next step in meeting the needs of its members, and formed the alliance with StEP to offer expertise and new approaches to solving the global e-waste problem. Many members of The Green Grid have information technology (IT) managers actively seeking disposal solutions for a generation of electronic equipment – deployed in the digital boom of the 1990s – that is rapidly reaching the end of its natural life. By working with StEP, which is hosted by the United Nations University, The Green Grid aims to put organizations on track to better understand and manage its outdated equipment.

The Green Grid has built its reputation largely on its activities in the area of IT energy and emissions, most notably focusing on resource efficiency in data centers and enterprise. By turning its focus to office and electronic equipment and improving organizations' methods of managing materials, waste and recycling, The Green Grid and StEP hope to unite these previously unaligned areas of IT resource efficiency.

"There have always been two separate discussions in the world of IT and data center efficiency, with one side focused on energy emissions, and the other concerned about material and waste recycling. With this new alliance, we are essentially merging the two camps for the first time to offer leadership on e-waste concerns like the global community has never seen before," said John Pflueger, Dell representative and Board Member of The Green Grid. "StEP offers deep understanding of the issues and can help guide our research around e-waste as we work to create new metrics that will help our members stay at the forefront in the area of IT resource efficiency."

The Green Grid and StEP have already collaborated on a new metric, Electronics Disposal Efficiency (EDE), that will help end-users of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) measure their success in the responsible management of outdated equipment. The Green Grid is currently working with organizations interested in piloting the EDE metric.

"We're very enthusiastic for these two important organizations to unite and experience the benefits this initiative will bring to the e-waste industry," said Ruediger Kuehr, Executive Secretary of the StEP Initiative. "Both The Green Grid and StEP have advanced efficiency across the different sides of the IT equation. Although we are only at the very beginning of the e-waste discussion, we are taking crucial first steps by helping organizations identify and understand all their waste streams, and find the best disposal pathways."

To learn more about measuring Electronics Disposal Efficiency, you can view the full white paper here: http://www.thegreengrid.org/en/Global/Content/white-papers/WP53-ElectronicsDisposalEfficiencyAnItRecyclingMetricforEnterprisesandDataCenters.

For more information about The Green Grid, or if you're interested in becoming a member, please visit www.thegreengrid.org/join.

About The Green Grid

The Green Grid is a global consortium of companies, government agencies, educational institutions and individuals dedicated to advancing resource efficiency in information technology and data centers with a holistic approach, including all IT, facility and infrastructure systems. As the global authority on resource efficient  information technology and data centers, The Green Grid spans the entire computing and communications ecosystem – from data centers to personal computers – and will continue to provide the global IT industry with metrics, tools and best practices to improve resource efficiency.

The Green Grid does not endorse vendor-specific products or solutions, and instead seeks to provide industry-wide recommendations on best practices, metrics and technologies that will improve overall resource efficiencies. Membership is open to organizations at the Contributor, General or Associate Member levels, and individuals at the Individual Member level.

For more information, visit www.thegreengrid.org or connect with The Green Grid on Twitter @TheGreenGrid, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Green-Grid/263092707057658 and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2492375  

About The StEP Initiative

The Solving the e-waste Problem (StEP) Initiative is a global consortium of companies, research institutes, governmental agencies, international organizations and NGOs dedicated to advancing the management and development of environmentally, economically and ethically-sound e-waste resource-recovery, re-use and prevention.

The StEP Initiative instead seeks to provide science-based but applied recommendations towards a sustainable solution of the e-waste issue.

Additional information is available at www.step-initiative.org

SOURCE The Green Grid