Green Technology Purchasing Policy

San Francisco’s environmentally preferable or “green” purchasing practices serve as a model to other public agencies, private businesses, and residents. The goal of the San Francisco Department of Environment is to spend no less than 90% of purchase dollars on compliant products within the product areas covered.

The purpose of this Green Policy is to establish green information technology purchasing requirements that improve the environmental profile of City government operations, and that foster expanded environmental stewardship in the IT industry. This policy is directed towards the purchasing of the following devices and their packaging:

• Personal computers, including desktops, laptops, tablets, workstations, thin clients and computer monitors;
• Enterprise computer servers;
• Imaging equipment, including copiers, digital duplicators, facsimile machines, multifunction devices, printers, mailing machines and scanners; and
• Televisions and large displays, including signage displays.

This policy applies to all information resources operated by the City and County of San Francisco and its departments, and commissions. Elected officials, employees, consultants, and vendors working on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco are required to comply with this policy.

The City and County of San Francisco will purchase information technology (IT) equipment that meets the needs of City users, minimizes negative human health effects and environmental harm, and limits packaging burdens. Our purchasing policies will ensure that City government agencies shall purchase only information technology equipment that:

1. Meets the City’s environmental requirements,
2. Contains minimum levels of toxic components,
3. Operates with the highest energy efficiency,
4. Maximizes product longevity,
5. Is designed to facilitate recycling at the end of product life, and with maximum use of recycled and recyclable materials,
6. Requires minimal packaging with maximum recycled and recyclable content.
7. Promotes extended producer responsibility for manufacture and disposal, and
8. Has the smallest possible climate change footprint.

Computer equipment, including laptops, monitors, desktops, servers, displays, and imaging equipment, have been designated as “Targeted Product Categories” for green purchasing efforts, in keeping with Chapter 2 of the San Francisco Environment Code.

Personal Computers

All desktops, laptops, tablets, workstations, thin clients and computer monitors are required to be registered in the EPEAT system at the time of purchase at Gold level or higher -OR- by TCO Certified. Preprogrammed, automated energy savings settings shall not be overridden by the department before distribution.

EPEAT for Personal Computers is a registry of products satisfying the IEEE 1680.1™ – 2018 Standard for Environmental and Social Responsibility Assessment of Computers and Displays. The EPEAT registration criteria and a database of all registered products are provided at http://www.epeat.net. TCO Certified is third-party certification for IT products; its criteria and list of certified products are provided at https://tcocertified.com/.

Servers

Computer servers, with the exception of blades, purchased by City departments will be reviewed for compliance with this Policy during the CIO Review process and any purchases are encouraged to be registered as Bronze level or higher in the EPEAT system at the time of purchase. EPEAT for Servers is a registry of products satisfying the NSF/ANSI 426 – 2017 Standard for Environmental Leadership and Corporate Responsibility Assessment of Server.

IT purchasers are encouraged to “right-size” their server specification in terms of memory and redundant power supplies, to review manufacturer data sheets of servers that meet the given need, and to choose models with high efficiency over a range of operating loads.

Imaging Equipment

All imaging equipment purchased or leased by City departments, including copiers, digital duplicators, facsimile machines, multifunction devices, printers, mailing machines and scanners (as defined by the U.S. ENERGY STAR® Imaging Equipment Specification) are required to achieve Gold registration in the EPEAT system at the time of purchase. An exception is granted for cases where specialized finishing equipment is needed but is unavailable. In these cases, purchasers must be prepared to demonstrate due diligence in seeking compliant alternatives, and purchased equipment must meet the highest available EPEAT certification.

EPEAT for Imaging Equipment is a registry of products satisfying the IEEE 1680.2a™ – 2017 Standard for Environmental Assessment of Imaging Equipment — Amendment 1.

Televisions and Large Displays

All televisions or large displays purchased or leased by City departments are required to achieve at the time of purchase at least one of the following:

• Certification to TCO Certified
• Registration in the EPEAT system
• Qualified under the current version of Energy Star® Program Requirements for Televisions
• Qualified under the current version of Energy Star® Program Requirements for Displays

EPEAT for Televisions is a registry of products satisfying the IEEE 1680.3a™ – 2017 Standard for Environmental Assessment of Televisions — Amendment 1.

Exempt from the policies above are the following devices and equipment:

• Network infrastructure
• Appliances
• Blades

In ordering IT equipment of any kind, City staff shall ensure that:

• The equipment is packaged using materials:
  • That contain the maximum available level of recycled content
  • That contain the maximum available level of recyclable content,
  • That are easily separable and minimize the use of foam.
• Where feasible and available, the equipment should be ordered in bulk packaging as an alternative to single unit packaging in the primary ordering process. Bulk packaging should serve as primary packaging from the point of product assembly to delivery. Re-boxing of a finished product from single unit packaging to bulk packaging will not be considered an acceptable option. Bulk packaging should result in either reduced packaging weight, as compared on a per unit basis to the single unit packaging, or reduced packaging volume, as compared on a per unit volume basis to single unit packaging.

Department of the Environment

• Track the availability of new or modified ecolabels or standards related to green technology purchasing, make recommendations for policy updates to COIT, and track City departments’ and contractors’ compliance with the policies. The Department will regularly notify department directors of noncompliant purchases.

City Departments

• Ensure that their technology purchases comply with all green purchasing requirements. Summaries of the City’s green technology purchasing requirements can be accessed at www.sfapproved.org (see References below).
• Departments shall submit to the Department of Technology all proposed server purchases for CIO Review.
• Departments should be prepared to justify any deviations from these policies to the Department of the Environment, for example, in cases where no compliant products meet the specific performance needs of a purchaser.

Department of Technology

• Review City proposed purchases of servers as part of the CIO Review process for compliance.

City Contracting Staff

• Work with the Department of the Environment and departmental IT experts to ensure that green technology purchasing requirements are fully incorporated into all relevant City contracts for equipment or equipment leasing, and that these policies are clearly communicated to contractors.

City Contractors

• Provide City agencies only goods and services that comply with the City’s green technology purchasing requirements.

In addition to this policy, departments and agencies should comply with any additional direction approved by the Mayor, Board of Supervisors, or Department of the Environment with regards to green technology purchasing.

• Appliances: Computer systems where the hardware, firmware and software are bundled as an integrated purpose-built product to provide a specific computing resource. All applications are pre-installed in the appliances and require minimal configuration before being deployed into existing network. Appliances are closed and sealed and are not designed to allow customers to change the bundled hardware, software or underlying operating system.
• Blades: A blade is a compact modular self-contained system consisting of core processing components such as microprocessors and memory, network and input/output cards that can be inserted into a blade chassis.
• Servers: A server is a type of computer or device on a network that delivers computing power, memory, and storage and hosts a multi-processing operating system for the purpose of providing functionality for applications or programs known as ”clients”. Servers need to be configured and software installed before deployment into an existing network.

• EPEAT Registration Criteria
• EPEAT Registered Products
• ENERGY STAR Listed Products
• San Francisco Green Technology Purchasing Requirements
• TCO Certified Criteria
• TCO Certified Products

Specific green technology purchasing requirements are established in collaboration with the Department of the Environment, under provisions of the City’s Environment Code (Chapter 2).