United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Pollution Prevention
and Toxics
(7406)
EPA744-F-98-010
August 1998
vvEPA
Design for the Environment
Computer Display Project
U.S.EPA*
What Is Design for the
Environment?
EPA's Design for the Environment
(DfE) Program is a voluntary initia-
tive that forms partnerships with
a variety of stakeholder groups in
an effort to:
• Encourage businesses to incor-
porate environmental concerns,
in addition to the traditional cri-
teria of cost and performance,
into their decisions.
• Effect behavior change to facili-
tate continuous environmental
improvement.
To accomplish these goals, the
program uses EPA's expertise and
leadership to evaluate the human
health and environmental risks,
performance, and cost of tradi-
tional and alternative
technologies, materials, and
processes. DfE disseminates infor-
mation on its work to all
interested parties and helps busi-
nesses implement cleaner
technologies identified through the
program.
The program has formed coopera-
tive partnerships with the
following industries:
• Printed wiring board
• Computer display
• Printing
• Garment and textile care
• Auto refinishing
• Industrial/institutional laundry
Assessing Life-Cycle
Impacts
Why Is EPA Working
With the Display
Industry?
Each year, millions of
desktop computer moni-
tors are manufactured and sold worldwide.
Monitors that use cathode ray tubes (CRTs)
currently dominate the global marketplace, as
CRTs provide rich, high-resolution displays well-suited to a range of
applications.
Flat panel displays (FPDs) have emerged on the electronics market as a
replacement for CRTs in certain applications, primarily because FPDs
are lighter, smaller, and more portable, and they consume less energy
during operation. One type of FPD, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), are
used primarily in notebook computers, but are beginning to move into
the desktop market. The potential life-cycle environmental impacts of
both CRTs and LCDs have not yet been adequately assessed.
EPAs Design for the Environment (DfE) Program has entered into a vol-
untary partnership with the electronics industry to evaluate the
life-cycle environmental impacts, performance, and cost of CRT and
FPD technologies used for desktop computers (LCDs). The project will
generate data to assist original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and
suppliers in the electronics field to incorporate environmental consider-
ations into their decision-making processes and identify areas for
improvement.
What Are the
Project's Goals?
The primary purpose of the DfE Computer
Display Project is to evaluate the life-cycle envi-
ronmental impacts of FPDs and CRTs by
combining Cleaner Technologies Substitutes
Assessment (CTSA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) approaches.
Developed under the DfE program, CTSAs evaluate and compare substi-
tute processes, products, or technologies, and generate data that allow
businesses to make environmentally informed choices. Human and eco-
logical risk, energy and resource use, performance, and costs are
evaluated in a CTSA.
LCAs examine the full life cycle of a product, from materials acquisi-
tion to manufacturing, use, and disposition. LCAs are comprehensive
methods for evaluating the full environmental impacts of a product
system.
In this project, these two methodologies will be used to study display
technologies that perform standard applications on 15- to 17-inch
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desktop computer monitors. The technologies that
meet this criteria include CRTs and two types of thin-
film transistor active-matrix LCDs (twisted nematic
and in-plane switching). In addition to evaluating
environmental impacts, information on the relative
performance and cost of CRT and LCD technologies
will be collected from industry and summarized.
These evaluations will provide information to help
the electronics industry:
• Consider alternative technologies, materials, and
processes that reduce releases of toxic chemicals,
conserve resources, and lower risks to human
health and the environment.
• Perform an improvement assessment of display
technologies and their components.
• Meet the growing global demands for extended
product responsibility.
What Kind of Work is
Being Conducted by
the Project Team?
Project participants
include display manu-
facturers, OEMs, trade
groups such as the U.S.
Display Consortium
(USDC) and Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA),
academic and research organizations, such as the
University of Tennessee (UT) and the
Microelectronics and Computer Technology
Corporation (MCC), and public interest groups, like
the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
Under a grant from EPA, and with the assistance of
MCC, the CTSA/LCA study is being conducted by
UT s Center for Clean Products and Clean
Technologies. UT and other project participants are
evaluating the environmental impacts of display tech-
nologies throughout their entire life cycle. The team
will develop estimates of environmental impacts from
the following processes:
• Raw material extraction or acquisition
• Material processing
• Product manufacture
• Product use
• Disposition at end of life
UT and other project participants also will charac-
terize exposure and chemical risk from selected
chemicals in one or more life-cycle stages of the dis-
plays. This assessment will evaluate impacts on
human health and organisms in the environment.
The project team will summarize performance and
cost information from existing industry data. In
addition, the team will assemble as much relevant
technical data as possible from existing research.
The following studies are possible sources for project
team consideration:
• MCC s 1994 Electronics Industry Environmental
Roadmap, which qualitatively identified general
environmental issues and priority needs for reducing
impacts from display screens, but was not quantita-
tive and did not address all display life-cycle issues.
• A University of Michigan case study of the environ-
mental performance of an active matrix LCD, which
includes some preliminary life-cycle inventory data.
• A New Jersey Institute of Technology life-cycle
assessment for television CRTs.
• 1996 Update to: Research Report on the Visions of
the Electronic Display Industry to the Year 2000,
EIAJ (Electronic Industries Association of Japan).
• Research on personal computers (including dis-
plays) conducted at the NEC Resources and
Environment Protection Labs and National
Institute for Resources and Environment.
The results from new studies as well as any analysis
generated on existing data will be disseminated to
industry OEMs, display manufacturers, and other
interested parties.
How Can I
Get More
Information?
To learn more about EPA s Df E Program or Df E
Computer Display Project, contact:
Pollution Prevention Information Clearinghouse
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW. (7409)
Washington, DC 20460
Telephone: 202 260-1023
Fax: 202 260-4659
E-mail: ppic@epa.gov
You may also visit the DfE web site at
.
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