Information Technology Meets Global Ecology VI: Can Computers Save Resources?
Earlier in this series, I outlined the basic IT/ECO dilemma: can we justify
information technology as a supporting tool for global ecology when computer
manufacturing is one of the most polluting processes on the planet? For every
25-kilogram computer, there are 63 kilograms of waste, 22 of them toxic.1
One reader pointed out, “In order to ponder figures like these in a
meaningful way, they would have to be juxtaposed with statistics such as: how
much a typical office computer or home PC saves on driving, paper, and
chemicals (for copying etc.).”2
I decided to take the challenge. Here’s what I discovered.
Most evidence points to computers actually increasing paper usage. Eighty
percent of the waste in a typical office is high-grade white paper. The
volume of office paper and commercial printing increased 245% between 1960
and 1994, from 3.9 to 13.5 million tons.3
David Tomere writes in his online mag, BETA Online:4
The United States' over-all paper usage dwarfs other countries' with 88 million metric tons in 1995 to number two Japan with 30 million tons.
From 1975-1995, the combined usage of today’s top ten users has increased from 92 million metric tons to 208 million, a growth of 126%.
Some authorities predict that world consumption will increase during the next 15 years from 280 to 490 million metric tons, another rise of 75%.5
But, before you make up your mind, we’ll look at some opposing views next
week.
* *
1 State of the World 2000, The Worldwatch Institute, Lester Brown et al.,
particularly Molly O’Meara’s Chapter 7, “Harnessing Information Technologies
for the Environment,” W. W. Norton & Company, New Yor/London, page 127.
2 Thanks to Frieda Gordon Dilloo of Berkeley, CA.
3 From the ULS Report, a bi-monthly newsletter created to help people Use
Less Stuff by conserving resources and reducing waste.March-April,1998,
Volume 5, Number 2, “The Paper Chase;” the article is posted at:
http://cygnus-group.com/ULS/About_ULS.html.
4 Build 2.1 January 1999, by David Tomere, editor, BETA Online
(www.betaonline.com). This article at http://www.betaonline.com/beta2_1.htm
5 In the last 20 years, the combined usage of today’s top ten users has
increased from 92 million tons to 208 million, a growth of 126%. Individual
percentage increases showed the USA lowest at 77%, the UK at 88%, France at
104%, Germany at 129%, Italy at 131%, Japan at 137%,
Spain at 168% and Canada at 219%. But the real stars were China at 597% (from
3.8 million to 26.5) and S.Korea at 842% (from 0.7 million to 6.6).
This information available at http://www.napm.org.uk/paperuse.htm. I thank
David Tomere for bringing this site to my attention.
