1. Environmental Impact
Mr Ross

2. Learning Intention: I will learn about the impact of the energy use of computer systems on the environment and how it can be reduced.

3. Computer Energy Use & Carbon Footprint
amount of greenhouse gases produced by a particular activity
greenhouse gases cause global warming
computers contribute 2% of global greenhouse gases – nearly the same as the airline industry

4. Computer Energy Use & Carbon Footprint
How do computers use energy?
daily use – takes electricity to use or charge a computer system
manufacture …

5. Manufacture Many different parts:
processor, memory, motherboard, backing storage etc
Lots of these parts require materials which need to be mined from all over the world.
gold, silver, platinum, nickel, copper etc
USA, Australia, South Africa

6. Energy Use
Put these into order with highest user of electricity first:
Laptop
Gaming Desktop
Printer
Desktop

7. Energy Use for a year: Gaming Desktop 1000kWh* Desktop 166kWh**
Laptop kWh
Printer kWh
* similar to 3 refrigerators on all the time
* approx. 4 hours gaming a day
** similar to a washing machine used on average 5½ times a week

8. Energy Use What % manufacture v. use?
DAILY USE 20%

9. Reducing Computer Energy Use
display settings – e.g. reduce brightness
enable power saving after a period of inactivity
put computers into stand-by or even turn them off when not in use
don’t print unnecessarily

10. Disposal
lots of substances in computers are harmful to the environment so you should not just throw them away
need to extract dangerous elements and dispose of properly
but it takes energy to dispose of them in the correct manner (e.g. extracting materials like lead or mercury)

11. Alternatives to disposal (recycle)
give the computer (or parts of it) to someone who does not have one
sell it online (e.g. ebay)
part-exchange it for your new one
give it to the company you buy your new one from
it is the manufacturers responsibility to dispose of equipment properly

12. WARNING
What must you do to data on backing storage before you recycle it?
REMOVE THE DATA
Why?
THINK DATA PROTECTION ACT PRINCIPLES:
Security measures should prevent unauthorised access or alteration of the data

13. Environmental Benefits
reduced travel
teleconferencing
online shopping
telemedicine
working from home
reduced paper use
electronic documents