Final answer:
EPEAT criteria affect manufacturing costs minimally, as environmental regulation costs are usually 1 to 2% of the total costs faced by large industrial plants. These criteria promote greater emphasis on sustainability and long-term cost savings through durable goods and repairability over disposability.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question pertains to the effects of EPEAT criteria on manufacturing costs. EPEAT stands for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, which is a system that evaluates the environmental impact of a product. Implementing EPEAT criteria can affect manufacturing costs in several ways.
One might expect that complying with environmental standards would significantly increase costs; however, the reality is more nuanced. Environmental regulation costs, including those related to EPEAT, typically amount to only 1 to 2% of total costs for a large industrial facility.
Therefore, while it's a factor, it's not as significant as the costs of labor, materials, access to markets, quality of infrastructure, and local government competency.
In a shift away from a race-to-the-bottom scenario, where companies move to countries with weaker environmental laws to save costs, firms value the myriad other factors much more. However, EPEAT criteria do lead to a change in economic behavior over the long term.
The adoption of these criteria can encourage the move away from a disposable economy, pushing towards products that are designed to last longer, be repaired easier, and have lower environmental costs over their lifecycle. This can lead to an overall reduction in pollution and a promotion of sustainability, without greatly impacting the production costs.