Fortunately, there are emerging systems to guide us through purchasing decisions that take the environmental "footprint" of computer systems into account. The "Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool", or EPEAT, is certainly the easiest and most comprehensive tool that takes into account the environmental impacts of the manufacturing, use and disposal of computer systems.

Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, offers verification of Energy Star qualified office technology. Energy Star certification covers more products than EPEAT but only looks at the energy consumption of technology during its "useful life" and does not evaluate the environmental and energy consumption issues during manufacturing or disposal. The Energy Star standards for computers were revised in July of 2007 (now version 4.0). EPEAT is requiring Energy Star 4.0 compliance for any products certified after July 20, 2007, but will keep products that met Energy Star 3.0 certification prior to July 20, 2007 in their database until January of 2008, after which time only Energy Star 4.0 certified systems will be included in the EPEAT database.

In Europe, the Eco-label program certifies a variety of products including computer equipment. The Eco-label program essentially merges the energy savings focus of Energy Star with the lifecycle analysis of EPEAT in one program.