Our PCs, our planet

The digital world has many benefits but, let’s face it, it’s not the greenest of worlds.

As our everyday gadgets go digital – PCs, monitors, personal video recorders (PVRs), chargers and printers – we are increasingly leaving them on standby, ready to bounce back on instantly.

It’s more than a decade since equipment first started sporting the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Energy Star logo.

Awareness of pollution and ecological issues is much higher than it used to be, and two recent pieces of legislation – the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), and the Reduction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directives – mean that manufacturers and suppliers must pay more than just lip service to the environmental aspects of their products.

But just how does the typical PC affect our planet?

Facts and figures
In a way, PCs aren’t that much different from cars. When people talk about the environmental aspects, they concentrate on day-to-day use – how much fuel is consumed, or pollution caused, and so on.

And, of course, we could all cut our carbon emissions by switching to a new electric or hybrid model and scrapping our old cars.

But things aren’t as simple as that. It takes a lot of energy to scrap an old car, and to build a new one, and the same is true of PCs.

You could buy the greenest PC imaginable and switch it off at the wall every day. But most of the damage has been done already in its construction and shipping. That’s not to underestimate the need to switch it off, of course.

According to the Government’s recent energy review, eight per cent of domestic electricity consumption is incurred by devices in standby mode.

In fact, according to a study made a couple of years ago by the United Nations University, the amount of energy used in making a typical desktop computer is equivalent to burning 260kg of fossil fuels. Over the typical life of a PC, that means 80 per cent of all the energy used will have been during manufacturing.

But fear not, you can make a difference by extending your PC’s lifespan and ensuring that when you no longer need it, it reaches someone who can do something with it, saving them, too, from having to buy new equipment.

Unfortunately, all that is easier said than done. The requirements of each new generation of software are increasing, needing ever more powerful machines. And they are being churned out at faster and faster rates to meet the needs of not just ourselves, but of fast-growing and modernising economies, such as China and India.

The amount of energy consumed in making a new PC isn’t the only reason to avoid scrapping your existing one. The components that make up your PC, while safe enough as long as they’re sitting under your desk, can cause real problems when you come to dispose of them.

So, what’s a typical PC made of? Why is it a problem? And what can you do about it? And, more to the point, what is anyone doing about it?