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Executive Orders Historical Archive
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Executive Order 12845 Revoked 🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority Constitutional Fidelity (+0.41) 📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process

Executive Order 12845—Requiring Agencies To Purchase Energy Efficient Computer Equipment

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Wednesday, April 21, 1993
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3 min read (540 words)

Executive Brief • At a Glance

⏱️ 3 min read (540 words) • ● Revoked
🎯 Primary Mandate

The heads of Federal agencies shall ensure that, within 180 days from the date of this order, all acquisitions of microcomputers, including personal computers, monitors, and printers, meet "EPA Energy Star" requirements for energy efficiency.

⚖️ Constitutional Footing
🏛️✅ Zone 1: Maximum Authority
Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
📜 5th Amend: Regulatory Execution with Due Process
🏛️ Scope & Affected Sectors
Sovereign State Governments & Localities Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants Private Citizens & Property Owners

Plain-English Translation & Framers' Constitutional Analysis

Early Statesman synthesis distilling legal jargon into practical meaning, statutory anchors, and structural constitutional impacts.

Signed by President William J. Clinton on April 21, 1993, this order concerns Requiring Agencies To Purchase Energy Efficient Computer Equipment. Procurement of Computer Equipment that Meets EPA Energy Star Requirements for Energy Efficiency. (a) The heads of Federal agencies shall ensure that, within 180 days from the date of this order, all acquisitions of microcomputers, including personal computers, monitors, and printers, meet "EPA Energy Star" requirements for energy efficiency.

Constitutional Assessment: Evaluated against the Fifth Amendment, this action touches upon property or economic rights. An early statesman would insist upon strict adherence to due process of law and the constitutional guarantee that private holdings shall not be encumbered or taken for public purposes without just compensation and lawful process.

Key Directives & Operative Actions

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The heads of Federal agencies shall ensure that, within 180 days from the date of this order, all acquisitions of microcomputers, including personal computers, monitors, and printers, meet "EPA Energy Star" requirements for energy efficiency.

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Within 180 days from the date of this order, agencies shall specify that microcomputers, including personal computers, monitors, and printers, acquired by the agency shall be equipped with the energy efficient lowpower standby feature as defined by the EPA Energy Star computers program.

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This feature shall be activated when the equipment is shipped and shall be capable of entering and recovering from the low-power state unless the equipment meets Energy Star efficiency levels at all times.

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To the extent permitted by law, agencies shall include this specification in all existing and future contracts, if both the Government and the contractor agree, and if any additional costs would be offset by the potential energy savings.

Constitutional & Societal Entities Impacted

🏛️ Sovereign State Governments & Localities 🏛️ Executive Departments & Federal Civil Servants 🏛️ Private Citizens & Property Owners
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The Framers' Constitutional Council

1787 Prism

Evaluating this order against the constitutional debates of 1787 and the limits of Article II executive power.

🏛️✅ Zone 1 (Maximum Authority)
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"When the President acts pursuant to an express or implied authorization of Congress, his authority is at its maximum, for it includes all that he possesses in his own right plus all that Congress can delegate."

— Justice Robert H. Jackson, Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952) Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
JM

James Madison

Separation of Powers & Legislative Primacy

"The constitutional magistracy was designed not to invent policy, but to be the faithful instrument of the laws passed by the people's representatives." — Speech in the First Congress (1789)

Madison would approve the structural posture of this order. The President acts strictly in subordination to statutory authority granted under Article II, Section 3 ("take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed"). The checks and balances hold firm because the policy origin remains with the legislature.

Madisonian Stance: Concurring (Statutory)
AH

Alexander Hamilton

The Energetic Executive & Unified Command

"A feeble Executive implies a feeble execution of the government; and a government ill executed, whatever it may be in theory, must be, in practice, a bad government." — Federalist No. 70 (1788)

Hamilton would view this directive as the natural and indispensable functioning of administrative leadership. Without the power to coordinate agencies, manage personnel, and resolve operational ambiguities, the modern presidency would be reduced to an impotent figurehead.

Hamiltonian Stance: Supportive of Execution
GM

George Mason

Bill of Rights, Due Process & 10th Amendment

"The purse and the sword ought never to be in the same hands... nor the liberties of the citizen placed at the pleasure of a single magistrate." — Virginia Ratifying Convention (1788)

George Mason and the Anti-Federalists would sound a fierce warning. They feared that Article II would inevitably evolve into an elective monarchy. When an executive order impacts private rights, property, or civil liberties without individualized judicial process, Mason would see their darkest predictions verified.

Anti-Federalist Stance: High Bill of Rights Scrutiny
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Five Measurable "Constitutional Friction" Dimensions

An objective audit measuring potential separation-of-powers tension against the United States Constitution and established Supreme Court doctrine.

⚖️ Discretionary Twilight Zone
40 / 100 friction index
Dimension 1 • Art. I, §1 & §8

Legislative Encroachment & Purse

Moderate Friction

Administers commerce or fiscal programs requiring ongoing statutory delegation and legislative oversight.

Benchmark: Power of the purse, taxes/tariffs, and rule of law reserved to Congress.
Dimension 2 • Art. II, §1 & §3

Executive Scope & Faithfulness

Moderate Friction

Directs internal executive branch machinery, agency workflows, and federal personnel.

Benchmark: Faithfully execute laws enacted by Congress vs. unilateral decree.
Dimension 3 • 10th Amendment

Federalism & State Sovereignty

Moderate Friction

Engages state and local partners in cooperative federalism programs.

Benchmark: Police powers and un-delegated responsibilities reserved to the States.
Dimension 4 • 5th & 14th Amendments

Due Process & Individual Rights

Moderate Friction

Applies regulatory or compliance standards to private contractors or commercial entities.

Benchmark: Protection of private property, contracts, liberty, and procedural justice.
Dimension 5 • Separation of Powers

Youngstown Jacksonian Tier

Low Friction

The President operates strictly as the constitutional Chief Executive, carrying out policy established by Congress with strong statutory backing.

Benchmark: Express or Implied Congressional Authorization
⚖️ Audit Synthesis

This order operates within Justice Jackson’s Zone of Twilight, resting upon concurrent presidential authority or congressional silence.

Weighted composite: Art. I (25%), Art. II (25%), Federalism (15%), Due Process (15%), Youngstown (20%).
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How to read these dimensions: Executive power expands whenever an administration acts without explicit statutory authorization from Congress (Article I), touches upon police powers historically reserved to the states (Tenth Amendment), or limits private rights and property without judicial process. A low friction score indicates strict concordance with enacted law; a high friction score highlights orders testing the limits of presidential discretion.
Total Words
540
3,577 characters
Estimated Read Time
3 min
@ 200 words / min
Flesch-Kincaid
22
Post-Graduate Legal
Language Tone Score
+0.41
Constitutional Fidelity
How is this scored?
Text size:

Official Archival Text

View Source Document
📑Sections Outline (3 sections)

WHEREAS, the Federal Government should set an example in the energy efficient operation of its facilities and the procurement of pollution preventing technologies; WHEREAS, the Federal Government should minimize its operating costs, make better use of taxpayer-provided dollars, and reduce the Federal deficit; and WHEREAS, the Federal Government is the largest purchaser of computer equipment in the world and therefore has the capacity to greatly accelerate the movement toward energy efficient computer equipment;

NOW, THEREFORE, #now-therefore

by the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 381 of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. 6361), section 205 of the Federal Property and Administrative Services Act, as amended (40 U.S.C. 486), section 152 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102–486), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, and to ensure the energy efficient operation of the Federal Government’s facilities and to encourage the procurement of pollution preventing technologies that will save taxpayer money, reduce the Federal deficit, and accelerate the movement to energy efficient designs in standard computer equipment, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. #sec-1

Procurement of Computer Equipment that Meets EPA Energy Star Requirements for Energy Efficiency. (a) The heads of Federal agencies shall ensure that, within 180 days from the date of this order, all acquisitions of microcomputers, including personal computers, monitors, and printers, meet "EPA Energy Star" requirements for energy efficiency. The heads of Federal agencies may grant, on a case-by-case basis, exemptions to this directive for acquisitions, based upon the commercial availability of qualifying equipment, significant cost differential of the equipment, the agency’s performance requirements, and the agency’s mission. (b) Within 180 days from the date of this order, agencies shall specify that microcomputers, including personal computers, monitors, and printers, acquired by the agency shall be equipped with the energy efficient lowpower standby feature as defined by the EPA Energy Star computers program. This feature shall be activated when the equipment is shipped and shall be capable of entering and recovering from the low-power state unless the equipment meets Energy Star efficiency levels at all times. To the extent permitted by law, agencies shall include this specification in all existing and future contracts, if both the Government and the contractor agree, and if any additional costs would be offset by the potential energy savings. (c) Agencies shall ensure that Federal users are made aware of the significant economic and environmental benefits of the energy efficient low-power standby feature and its aggressive use by including this information in routine computer training classes. (d) Each agency shall report annually to the General Services Administration on acquisitions exempted from the requirements of this Executive order, and the General Services Administration shall prepare a consolidated annual report for the President.

Sec. 2. #sec-2

Definition. For purposes of this order, the term "agency" has the same meaning given it in section 151 of the Energy Policy Act of 1992.

Sec. 3. #sec-3

Judicial Review. This order does not create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable by a non-Federal party against the United States, its officers or employees, or any other person. William J. Clinton

THE WHITE HOUSE, #signature

April 21, 1993.

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Referenced By Later Executive Orders (1)

Subsequent presidents who cited, amended, continued, or revoked this directive in later orders.

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Scholarly & Legal Citations

Exec. Order No. 12,845 (Apr. 21, 1993), https://executiveordersarchive.org/orders/app-executive-order-12845-requiring-agencies-purchase-energy-efficient-computer-equipment.