IEEE Awards Booklet - 2010 - 7

I E E E

M E D A L S

2010 IEEE
Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies
Sponsored by Toyota Motor Corporation

Larry Chalfan, Viccy Salazar and Wayne Rifer

For developing and bringing into operation EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental
Assessment Tool, that measures product's environmental performance

wrote the grant proposal to the EPA. Ms. Salazar was the
EPA manager for the grant that funded EPEAT's development. Together they facilitated the stakeholder dialogue
that led to consensus. They guided all stakeholders,
including EPA, to jointly decide the criteria, which was instrumental in developing a resource supported by all
stakeholders. They also worked with large institutional
purchasers, including federal and state governments, to
ensure the standard's relevance in the marketplace.
EPEAT's impact continues to grow as standards are being
expanded to cover televisions and imaging products.

The efforts of Larry Chalfan, Viccy Salazar and Wayne Rifer
in developing the Electronic Product Environmental
Assessment Tool (EPEAT) have spurred the electronics
industry to go "green." EPEAT was launched in 2006 as
the culmination of over 100 stakeholders representing
diverse backgrounds working together to create a system
for identifying computer equipment that is environmentally friendly. EPEAT is used by government agencies,
universities, hospitals and corporations to ensure they are
purchasing green electronics products.
The trio's leadership and commitment was a key factor to
their overcoming the immense challenge of guiding the
group of electronics manufacturers and purchasers, environmental advocacy groups, researchers, recyclers, state
and local governments and the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to a consensus on the environmental criteria. This work resulted in the creation of IEEE
Standard 1680, which became the technical basis for the
EPEAT certification system. Mr. Rifer saw the need for a
common system with which to measure a product's environmental performance and that would provide incentive
to companies to produce green technology and he
enlisted the help of Mr. Chalfan.

An IEEE Associate Member, Mr. Chalfan founded the Zero
Waste Alliance, Portland, Ore., in 1999, from which he
retired in 2009 as executive director.
Ms. Salazar joined the EPA in 1994, where she addresses
environmental issues through holistic, lifecycle approaches. She currently leads the EPA's Region 10 Materials
Management and Stewardship Team, Seattle, Wash.
An IEEE Member, Mr. Rifer was co-chair of the IEEE
Environmental Assessment Standards Committee, which
sponsored the IEEE 1680 family of standards. He is
currently the director of Standards and Operations with
the Green Electronics Council, Portland, Ore.

Mr. Chalfan provided project management support and

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