By Bob Ferrari
Normally when a normal person is having environmental concerns over their carbon-footprint that they may be emitting their usual thoughts encompass the usual suspects – cars, electric generation, heating and air conditioning (HVAC), trash generation, or maybe even the unbelievable electrical consumption of the brand new black-hole creating Large Hadron Collider.
Whatever those thoughts might be, these people probably don’t spend much time considering just how much energy their computer is using, or the printer, monitor, television, VCR, DVD, XBox, or the Wii is using. When these devices are all “off”, most of them are still using electricity when they are in “standby” mode. Various electric companies estimate that current electrical usage from devices in “standby” mode is about 2% of total electrical consumption!
In a world where computers are everywhere, and environmental concerns are growing by the day, we need to consider how we can build, use and dispose of computers in a manner that is contributory to the health of the environment. That includes reductions in the use of lead and other hazardous materials in manufacturing, cautious energy consumption, lowering of paper waste by computer users, and concern for salvage or recycling of old computers. Millions of computers are dumped into landfills each year, which equates to a lot of mercury, lead, and cadmium that will leech into both water and air.
Practically Slave labor - Chinese imported hitech waste dumps
Chinese imported computer graveyard
As to salvaging of old computers, there are many new companies formed simply around this idea. In the last few years there have been hundreds of small computer recyclers popping up all over the world that are actively engaging in the collecting of and recycling of old computer materials. A lot of this material is shipped overseas to China where people make 60 cents a a day rummaging through these imported waste heaps for precious metals and anything else of value. Currently it is unclear as to how much of this matieral actually is recycled. Yet at the same time, most computers end up in the regular waste stream directly from the homes and businesses they served for their few years of life. Current statistics in Britain show that only 10% of computers are actually sent directly to recyclers. 40% are given to friends and relatives with 10% of this number actually ending up being recycled. The other 50% end up being tossed directly into the normal waste stream… what a waste.
10% of British consumers actually recycled their old computers
How Green Is Your Computer?
Thursday, November 20, 2008
We’re so dependent on our computers these days that most of us would be lost without them. They make communication, work and entertainment much easier — yet their negative effects on the environment are often overlooked.
The energy used in producing and operating personal and workplace computers is huge. Corporate IT equipment alone uses more than 22 billion kilowatt-hours per year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, a branch of the Department of Energy.
But it’s not only computers’ energy consumption that’s noteworthy; the manufacturing process and the materials involved are also important factors.
About 4.6 million tons of computers and consumer-electronics waste are dumped in landfills each year in the U.S., according to Greenpeace, and fewer than 12 percent of discarded computers are recycled.
Aware of this problem, PC manufacturers are trying to go “green” by minimizing the use of toxic components such as lead and mercury and making the machines more energy-efficient.
But how can you know how green your computer really is?
Green Computers, or ‘Greenwashed’ Ones?
More of this story – “How Green is Your Computer” click here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,454928,00.html
Hello,
I live in the same town as you do Bob, and we recently installed solar panels to supply our home with electricity.
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