1. Environmental Impact & Implications Higher Computing Science

2. At National 5 You should already know about – Energy use
Disposal of IT Equipment
Carbon Footprint
eLUE

3. Lifetime Carbon Footprint
Each stage of a computer’s life, from its production, throughout its use, and then its disposal, presents environmental problems. All of these contribute to its lifetime carbon footprint
Visit the website below to calculate your carbon footprint:

4. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Manufacture
Manufacturing computers and their various electronic and non-electronic components consumes electricity, raw materials, chemicals, water and generates hazardous waste
This directly or indirectly increases carbon dioxide emissions and impacts on the environment and the trend is likely to increase without government interventions
Computers, electronic devices and ICT infrastructure consume significant amounts of electricity, placing a heavy burden on our electricity grids and contributing to greenhouse gas emissions

5. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Manufacture
ICT product’s lifecyle:-
Removal of raw materials and energy sources from the Earth - the greenhouse gas emissions associated with mining non- renewable materials are part of the product’s life-cycle
Transportation of these materials from the point of acquisition to the point of processing

6. Raw materials are turned into the final product or package
Raw materials are turned into the final product or package. Manufacturing can consist of a number of steps depending on what the final product is
The more manufacturing that’s required, the more emissions this part of the life cycle is responsible for.

7. Lifetime Carbon Footprint Manufacture
FACTS
In 2007 the total global footprint of the ICT sector =
830 metric tonnes of CO2 emission
2% of the estimated total emissions from human activity released that year
similar to the footprint created by the aviation industry
DISCUSS
The manufacture of one PC requires about 1.7 tonnes of raw materials and water and consumes over ten times the computer’s weight in fossil fuels.

8. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Use
The ‘use’ stage of a product’s life cycle involves:-
use, reuse and maintenance of the product
includes energy used to power the product or make it work
Includes waste materials the product may produce - in the case of a computer this is mainly heat
Main contributions within the ICT industry are:-
energy requirements of PCs and monitors (40 per cent)
data centres, which contribute a further 23 per cent
fixed and mobile telecommunications that contribute 24 per cent of the total emissions

9. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Use
Solutions
Virtual servers :-
Reduce carbon footprint
off-site servers provided by a specialist company, allowing an organisation to tailor their storage needs, minimising the amount of waste storage
Thin client computing:-
provides users with the same interface, applications, and performance as a desktop based computer but through a slimline desktop device
Because applications are running on a server instead of a local processor, there can be significant power savings when used in a large scale environment
Power management systems:-
used in large organisations to make savings when computers are not being used by staff
typically results in automatic control of monitors, hard drives and computer systems, putting them to sleep or shutting them down if they remain inactive for time periods of 15 minutes or more

10. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Use
Facts
A data centre with 1000 servers uses enough electricity in a single month to power 16,800 homes for a year
30% of the overall energy consumed by PCs is wasted by being left on when not in use
1,000 PCs running constantly cost around £70,000 in electricity over a year
Around a third of employees in the UK never switch off their PCs when they leave the office at the end of the day, costing the UK £120 million a year in electricity
Most ICT departments use less than half their available server storage space, meaning that they are powering a lot of server space which is never used

11. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Disposal
The methods of disposal, including incineration, of electronic waste are another key environmental issue affecting climate change
In many countries disused mobile phones, old computers and other electronic junk are discarded into existing general dump sites for domestic waste, where they are liable to be incinerated alongside other solid waste materials
The resulting carcinogenic emissions will add to the list of harmful gases contributing to climate change. At the same time, the failure by manufacturers to maximise the life span of equipment increases the burden of emissions from the manufacturing sector

12. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Disposal
Solution
Recycling raw materials from end-of-life electronics is the most effective solution to the growing e-waste problem
Most electronic devices contain a variety of materials, including heavy metals which can be recovered for future use
By dismantling and providing reuse possibilities, natural resources are conserved and air and water pollution caused by hazardous disposal is reduced
Recycling also reduces the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by the manufacture of new products

13. Lifetime Carbon Footprint - Disposal
Facts
It is estimated that between 1996 and 2008 the number of mobile phones in use increased from 145 million to over four billion. Most of these will be discarded within one to three years of their life span
Count how many computing devices you currently have in your home. _______
Think about how many computing devices you had in your home when you were born________
DISCUSS THE TREND TO UPGRADE YOUR PHONE AFTER 1.5 OR 2 years.

14. Upgrading a Desktop V’s Buying a New Desktop
Upgrade
New

15. Reducing your carbon footprint
Turn electrical devices off when not in use.
Replace old equipment with modern, more energy efficient devices.
Recycle redundant devices appropriately.
Offset your carbon footprint by sponsoring charities that plant trees.
Don't print unless it is necessary.
Fix items instead of binning and replacing them.
Use rechargeable batteries instead of disposable.
Use technology to communicate instead of travelling by car or aeroplane.

16. Environmental Benefits - Bitesize
ICT itself can help reduce overall global carbon emissions by changing how we live, travel and work.
Dematerialisation
Swapping high carbon activities with low carbon alternatives, such as e- billing instead of paper billing, teleconferencing instead of travelling to meetings, working from home and e-media instead of producing CDs or newspapers.
Smart motors
Introducing ICT to the manufacturing sector to vary the amount of energy used by production lines, rather than motors either being on or off.

17. Environmental Benefits - Bitesize
Smart buildings
Our buildings and how we use them could be far more efficient. From heating and lighting which is only on when rooms are occupied and automatic systems to capture sunlight or provide shade from unwanted warmth, ICT has a role to play. This type of network control of buildings is known as Building Automation System (BAS).
Smart grids
Demand management and smart meters will help those supplying energy to run more efficient systems, while interactive real-time energy displays prompt users to consider their energy consumption
Smart logistics
ICT can make communication and planning easier. Many return journeys of vehicles carry no product and with 80 per cent of fleets having less than five vehicles, better coordination, communication and cooperation are crucial to cutting carbon.

18. Environmental Benefits – Positive Benefits
Technology allows meetings to take place over the Internet using video conferencing, s and perhaps Facetime. This is cost effective in saving time and money, and reduces the company's carbon footprint as the employee does not have to travel
Companies use less paper as members of staff can share files electronically and communicate electronically. This means that fewer documents need to be printed, recycled or physically transported around.

19. Environmental Benefits – Positive Benefits
Computers and the ease in which people can communicate means that many employees can choose to work from home, which reduces their carbon footprint as they are not travelling to work in cars and buses.
Computing devices have developed to become more efficient and use less energy.

20. Environmental Benefits – Positive Benefits
Consumers purchasing items online and reduce the carbon footprint that they would create by travelling to the shops.
Computers can help to monitor and manage fuel use in your home. Smart electricity meters show how much electricity you are using and can encourage people to reduce their consumption.
Heating can be controlled remotely over the internet; perfect if you are delayed getting home or forget to turn it down as you leave for your holiday!

21. Practical Task
Make a poster to advertise the environmental benefits of ICT.