The guideline examines notebook procurement criteria in the areas of energy consumption, material characteristics, and acoustic noise emissions, and also features manufacturer declarations and user information. It also takes account of the Energy Star 5.0 energy efficiency standard valid from July 2009. ”Procurement of energy-saving notebooks by public sector officials will make a real contribution to climate protection efforts. Furthermore, it will save energy and tax money,” said UBA’s Vice President Dr. Thomas Holzmann. Notebooks on the whole consume less power and materials compared to desktops. BITKOM has estimated that the public sector will spend about 18 billion euros on computers, software, and services related to IT and communications in 2009. The majority of that sum is accounted for by software (four billion euros) and hardware such as computers (2.3 billion euros). ”The public sector has purchasing power that must be used even more to promote environmentally friendly products,” said Holzmann.
The publication was issued as part of the ITK-Beschaffung.de online platform. The project by BITKOM, UBA, BeschA, and the Federal Office for Information Management and Information Technology of the Bundeswehr (IT-AMT BW) aims to provide public purchasers at federal, state and community level with a reliable and intelligible tool for their information and communications technology procurement needs. These processes are often complex since a great many legal requirements and standards in environmental protection and public procurement law must be met. The website is now featured in German, English and French and is being continuously expanded. An updated version of the earlier published Recommendations for environmentally friendly procurement of desktops Guideline will also incorporate the new Energy Star 5.0 standard. ”Public purchasers will find the website on procurement of IT and communications to be a great relief,” said Mr Klaus-Peter Tiedtke, Head of the Federal Ministry of Interior Procurement Office. "The website will promote competitiveness and transparency, which will draw a greater number of bids on our tenders and translates into cost-cutting. We can thus use taxpayer money more efficiently and also have legal certitude,” said Tiedtke.
Contact persons for journalists:
BITKOM:
Marc Thylmann, Press Spokesman, Technologies and Services
Tel. +49.30.27576-111
Fax +49.30.27576-400
m.thylmann@bitkom.org
Isabel Richter, Advisor, Environment and Sustainability
Tel. +49.30.27576-231
Fax +49.30.27576-400
i.richter@bitkom.org
Federal Interior Ministry Procurement Office:
Miliana Mongeville-Romic, Press Office
Tel. +49.228.99610-1210
miliana.mongeville-romic@bescha.bund.de
Federal Environment Agency:
Martin Ittershagen, Press Spokesman
Tel: +49.340.2103-2122
martin.ittershagen@uba.de
