Green PCs

Posted on 28 Jan 2005 at 16:56

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We're all aware of the crucial part computers play in modern life. But have you considered the effect they have on the environment? Martin Cooper looks at the damage done and suggests ways we can help

How environmentally friendly is your PC? Compared to a noisy old diesel engine that belches smoke and sounds like a long-lost member of the Luftwaffe, it is easy to think your computer is saintly. But is it?

We have taken a look at the impact our computers have on the environment. This subject is often sensationalised, which makes it hard to get to the actual facts. The simple truth is that we will not give up our computers, TVs, stereos, DVD players and camcorders. PCs in particular are an indispensable part of our lives, and while we know they are full of toxic metals and other nasties, we also know that they will not harm us while we are using them. But what happens to the environment when our old computers are trashed? Do we even know what is really inside them? We will answer those questions here, as well as looking at whether manufacturers are becoming more environmentally aware, and what exactly we can do to protect the world around us for the future.

So read on, but please make sure you use a low-energy light bulb to illuminate the page.

BUILDING A PC

It is not just the materials used to make PCs that are bad for us: the manufacturing process itself does a lot of damage. According to an online report published recently by the Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, the manufacture of a typical two-gram chip takes 1.6kg of fossil fuel, 72g of chemicals and 32kg of water. The team found that the materials needed to make just one 32MB memory chip weigh 630 times more than the final product. How much memory does your PC have? Perhaps as much as a gigabyte, and certainly no less than 128MB. When you add it all up the results are frightening - and that's just looking at the water needed to make your PC's memory chips.

Chips are just one part of the computer. The manufacture of PCs is very material intensive, according to Eric Williams and Ruediger Keuhr in their book Computers and the Environment: Understanding and Managing their Impact. They explain that the total weight of fossil fuels used in the manufacture of a PC is over 240kg. This is around 10 times the weight of the final computer. To put this in perspective, during the manufacture of cars and fridges the weight of fuel used is roughly equal to the weight of the final product.

Well over 1,000 different materials are used to make a PC. A lot of these, such as brominated and chlorinated substances, acids, plastics, biologically active materials, metals and gases, are highly toxic. The welcome news is that major companies in the PC industry are taking note of these reports and many are striving to improve their manufacturing process to protect the environment.

We contacted Micron, the firm behind Crucial memory and other PC components. The company wouldn't say exactly how much water it used in its manufacturing for fear of betraying industrial secrets, but a spokesman explained that Micron recycles 70 to 80 per cent of the water it uses in the production of semiconductors. In 1995 it reused just 30 per cent. "Water reclaimed is either sent back to production for reuse, or is used in the site's supply for fire suppression system backup, landscape irrigation, cooling tower and boiler water makeup and tool cooling," said the spokesman.

Micron claims that despite being the largest employer in the state of Idaho, it emits less than one per cent of the pollution in the area. Vehicles are responsible for most of the air pollution.