How much Carbon Dioxide do Computers Emit? smoking_computer

The environmental impact of air travel has gained much attention as of late. For example, Ohio Wesleyan is investigating joining the University President’s Initiative on Climate which would require paying for offsets for all university related air travel.

But what about all those computers? They too have a significant impact on the environment, on par with air travel as it turns out, according to a new study. Computing Climate Change reviews a new study looking at the environmental impact of computers. ==

? == Every single computer requires about 1.8 tonnes of chemicals, fossil fuels and water for its manufacture. And once in use, it emits about 0.1 tonne of carbon dioxide in a year.

According to a research, computers generate an estimated 35 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. The emissions by computers account for 2 per cent of world's total carbon dioxide emissions, almost equal to that contributed by aviation.

Every computer is good for some three years and then turns into junk. Though it's a different story in less developed countries where a computer is used for a longer period and even those considered scrap in the developed nations are junked and used here. The junk computers are often dumped in landfills, polluting the soil with poisonous elements like cadmium and mercury.

The carbon emissions by computers is causing concerns that it may wreck attempts to reduce emissions. The dumping of old computers into developing countries is another concern. Dumping is just a way of transferring your burden to someone else. This will obviously have a negative affect on the health of the environment in the developing countries. The increasing penetration of computers is not only worsening the global warming but also polluting soil.

But with such heavy dependence on computers, a decrease in number of computers is quite unlikely. Imagine a world without computers. We will have to revert back to old days for this. Since the decrease in number of computers is not possible, efforts are being made to turn the computers green. Energy efficient computing along with access to Internet, mail and other common processes like word-processing without a CPU are being looked at as possible solutions

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