United States Department of Agriculture

Purchaser Profile

Purchaser Name	United States Department of Agriculture
EPEAT Purchasing Categories	Computers & Displays, Office Printing Equipment, Mobile Phones
Purchaser Type	Federal Government
Awards	2019 EPEAT Purchaser Award – 3 Stars 2016 EPEAT Purchaser Award – 2 Stars
EPEAT Benefits	Over their lifetime, compared to products that do not meet EPEAT criteria, the 39,254 EPEAT-registered IT products purchased by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 2018 will result in environmental impact reductions including: Reduce use of primary materials by 5,500 metric tons, equivalent to the weight of 1,058 elephants Avoid the disposal of 30.7 metric tons of hazardous waste, equal to the weight of 254 refrigerators Eliminate the equivalent of 52 U.S. households’ solid waste for a year—96.7 metric tons Avoidance of 25 metric tons of water pollutant emissions Energy-Related Savings EPEAT’s requirement that registered products meet, and often exceed, the latest ENERGY STAR specifications means these products will consume less energy throughout their useful life, resulting in: Savings of 16,440 MWh of electricity—enough to power 1,353 U.S. households for a year Greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 10,624 metric tons of CO2 equivalents—equal to taking 2,275 average U.S. passenger cars off the road for a year $1,677,263 in lifetime cost savings
EPEAT Contract / RFP Language
EPEAT Spend

BECCA HAWKINS

ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS SPECIALIST

Becca provides administrative support to the internal processes for Green Electronics Council and the EPEAT program. She divides her time between supporting the financial processes and the EPEAT conformity assurance program.
Becca has over five years of experience working in the non-profit sphere. Prior to joining GEC, Becca worked as a bookkeeper at Susan Matlack Jones & Associates (SMJ), specializing in non-profit financial statements. At SMJ she was responsible for the creation of monthly financial statements for several local non-profits.
Prior to working at SMJ, Becca has worked at various non-profits helping them streamline their processes and procedures. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and History from University of California, Santa Cruz. In her spare time, Becca enjoys hiking, exploring Portland and volunteering.

LinkedIn Profile

Jean-François Barsoum

Senior Managing Consultant, Smarter Cities, Water and Transportation, Innovation, Research & Development at IBM

Jean-François Barsoum has over 20 years of experience at IBM where his focus is on understanding and communicating the societal and environmental impacts of technology. He was part of the core team that built the smart city concepts in the early 2000s.

Currently, his main objective is to communicate and popularise climate change solutions, smart city innovations, and the potential impacts of autonomous vehicles.

In 2008, he was selected by Al Gore’s Climate Project to be trained by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate. He later joined the board of directors of the Canadian branch of Mr. Gore’s Foundation for Climate change education.

He regularly advises startups in incubators and accelerators, and is collaborating on large research collaborations with several Canadian universities.

He chairs the disruptive technology committee of the Montreal Chamber of Commerce, as well as the Quebec Smart Transportation experts’ committee; is a director at the Canadian Water Network, and has advised the Canadian government on cleantech programs. He is also part of the committee overseeing the application of the Quebec Policy on Sustainable Mobility.