With all the talk of being green and not doing enough to save the planet these days, it’s about time that computer users put their hands up and admitted they’re sometimes just as bad as their neighbour who still hasn’t applied for a recycling box yet.
No need to feel like a hypocrite any longer, though. Here’s six ways you can counter some of the more harmful things your PC is doing to your environment that won’t break your back doing them.
1. Making IT
The problem. Manufacturing PCs is five times more wasteful than making cars. A 2004 study found that to make one desktop you need 240kg of fossil fuels, 22kg of chemicals and 1,500kg of water. [Source: UN University]
The solution. Check out used/refurbished PCs before buying new.
2. Wasting IT
The problem. Leaving monitors on standby wasted £41 million in 2005, generating 220,000 tonnes of unnecessary CO2. [Source: Energy Saving Trust]
The solution. Switch them off!
3. Breaking IT
The problem. Four per cent of all Europe’s waste is electronic. PCs and peripherals account for 39 per cent of that amount – in the UK, two million PCs end up in landfills every year. [Source: Industry Council for Electronic Equipment Recycling]
The solution Recycle old hardware.
4. Shipping IT
The problem. In 2003, more than 23,000 tonnes of electronic waste ended up in Asia – often illegally. [Source: Greenpeace]
The solution. Stick with reputable recycling programmes such as those run by manufacturers.
5. Printing IT
The problem. Every year 14,000 tonnes of printer cartridges end up in UK landfills [Source: ICER]
The solution. Charities will happily take old toners and inkjet cartridges, and many retailers sell recycled ones or refill kits.
6. Using IT
The problem. Only 15 per cent of us realise that our energy use is a bigger contributor to climate change than cars or factories. Gadget fans generate 4.1 tonnes of CO2 per person per year. [Source: Energy Saving Trust]
The solution. Add energy efficiency to your shopping list when you buy a PC, consider switching to suppliers who use renewable energy sources and use the power options that Windows Vista gives you to make your PC greener.
Gary Marshall is a freelance journalist who writes about technology, the Internet and pop culture. His website can be found at www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com.
2 Comments |
Read more
We’ve all seen the photos: polar bears teetering on ice cubes, tornadoes in Taunton (OK, in the USA) and frogs raining down in Frome. Well, perhaps not that last one – but Mother Nature, it seems, is wreaking revenge for our environmental abuse. Unfortunately, PCs are part of the problem. Making them is an environmental menace, using them wastes energy, and dumped desktops poison the planet.
One of the biggest problems is dumping. PCs contain lots of hazardous chemicals and, with two million PCs dumped in UK landfills every year, many of those chemicals end up in the soil. The situation is even worse in Asia, where much of the West’s obsolete equipment ends up. Greenpeace scientist Kevin Bridgden has visited Chinese breakers’ yards and reports: “They are horrific. In Southeast China I found acid baths leaching into streams; they were so acidic they could dissolve a coin in just a matter of hours”.
Here in the UK, domestic energy use is thought to be a bigger contributor to climate change than cars or factories. Just leaving electrical equipment on standby instead of switching it off generates four million tonnes of extra CO2 per year. That isn’t just bad news for polar bears; it’s bad for us, too – and it’s bad for our wallets. All that wasted energy costs us £740 million per year.
Green PC guide
Green computing needn’t be difficult. If you’re looking for a new PC, buying second hand is the greenest (and cheapest) option – but even buying new can be green if you look for kit that doesn’t eat electricity. While a standard PC might use around 200 watts, high-end gaming PCs use several times that amount. Green gamers might be better off with an Xbox 360 than a high-end PC – its graphics card can draw up to 120W of power.
You don’t need to buy a new PC to be green, though. Using the power options available with Windows Vista is a big help – you can make almost every component more energy-efficient – and unplugging unnecessary USB devices reduces your PC’s power consumption. Minimising the number of running programs helps, too: the more your PC does, the more power it needs. When you’re away from your PC, use Shut Down instead of Sleep.
Last but not least, there’s recycling. You can recycle your printer paper, toner and ink cartridges and buy recycled replacements, and you can choose second-hand or refurbished kit and components rather than new ones. When your PC approaches obsolescence you can recycle it too: this year manufacturers will offer take-back schemes so you can return unwanted kit (some, such as Dell, have already started) or you could do what we do and either sell old systems on eBay, give them to family and friends or donate them to charity. Just remember to securely wipe the hard disk first – or you might find that someone’s used your online banking to recycle all your cash.
Gary Marshall is a freelance journalist who writes about technology, the Internet and pop culture. His website can be found at www.bigmouthstrikesagain.com.
0 Comments |
Read more
