Information Technology Meets Global Ecology IX: Computers and Energy Use
So do computers save energy? How would we measure it?
We would have to take into account the entirety of the earth’s macro-systems:
tally up resources used for chip production, minus computer researchers’
missed trips to the library, count up all the corporate computers left on
24/7, minus the percentage of computer ‘sleep’ time, count sheets of paper,
give credit for recycled fiber, trade-off paperbased directories for online
catalogues. . How can any of this be measured in a neat total? It’s enough to
make rocket scientists run screaming from the room.
But, it’s as bad as it seems. The fact that more of us are realizing that the
‘cost’ of a computer is not just what we paid for it means that our
consciousness about the earth is changing. Perhaps we can’t come to a
conclusion, yet-there isn’t a clear one- and perhaps IT can assist us in
finding one.
Every time I cruise the web I find innumerable, creative ways that IT
furthers the environmental cause:
The World Wide Fund for Nature’s (formerly the World Wildlife Fund) Panda
Passport that you use to travel electronically and gather points as you
respond to environmental crises around the globe:
http://passport.panda.org/whatis.cfm.
A link with tons of recycling info and organizations:
http://www.americarecyclesday.org/
A newsletter for folks who want to Use Less Stuff (ULS), an important
concept called “source reduction:” http://cygnus-group.com/ULS/About_ULS.html
And how ‘bout this runner-up winner in a ULS environmental contest who
earned in-line Skates from Rollerblade, Inc. for his effort:
Tobay Salas, Hinesburg, VT, age 6, home school: When something breaks, I make
it into something else. For example, the arm broke on my robot and I made it
into a toy pocket clock. I didn't throw anything away and got a new toy by
using my imagination.
Recycling your robot arm may not have as much impact as a moratorium on
logging, but. . .hey, it’s a start!
