Lesson 4. Environmental Issues

Lesson Objective

Understand the environmental concerns with the use of computers.
Be able to to discuss some advantages and disadvantages to the environment.

Lesson Notes

Environmental Concerns

Environmental concerns are those where the manufacturing and use of computers has had a negative impact on the environment. Businesses, organisations, schools and homes all now have greater access to technology.

Energy Consumption: The production, distribution, and use of computers require significant energy resources. Manufacturing components, distributing equipment, and running devices like web servers and data centers contribute to high energy consumption. While some companies have made strides in power efficiency, the overall impact remains substantial.
E-Waste: Computers often contain toxic materials, such as lead. Additionally, many components are challenging to recycle. As a result, discarded computing equipment contributes to electronic waste (e-waste). Frequent upgrades and replacements exacerbate this issue.
Non-Renewable Materials: The manufacturing process relies on metals and plastics, which are finite resources. Extracting rare earth minerals for computer production has environmental consequences.
Paper Waste: Digital technology has reduced paper usage in some areas, but it’s essential to consider the overall impact. The shift to digital platforms can lead to increased paper waste in other contexts.

Many computer components are either hard to recycle or contain toxic materials, such as lead. Also, users discard ICT equipment quite quickly:

people have new smartphones every couple of years. In the UK, the average lifespan of an electronic device is two years.
many organisations replace computers after three or four years.
many people replace older technology before it fails simply because they perceive it to be old-fashioned or out of date.
It is often easier to buy a new device and discard the old one than to maintain or upgrade an old device.

Advantages of Tech

using email and working electronically means that less printing is required, and so less paper is used.
using systems like FaceTime, Skype and video conferences can reduce the need for people to travel to meet each other, and so less fuel is used.
people can work from home - which reduces commuting (less fuel is used) and means that less office space is needed.

Disadvantages of Tech

Technology consumes energy. Computers require electricity, and most smartphones and tablets require recharging after just a few hours of use. However newer technology can be be a lot more energy efficient.
Technological waste - also known as e-waste - sometimes contains poisonous chemicals and can be an environmental hazard.

What happens to the electronic waste?

Sometimes electrical items are sent to countries which have less strict laws about recycling.

For example, in Ghana there have been reports of highly-toxic dumping grounds for old technology.