05 December 2007

Computer Use And Electricity

The IT sector in the UK has a similar carbon footprint to aviation. Same question as aviation expansion, really. Why do some sectors of the economy feel they have a free pass to continue ramping up their carbon emissions, forcing an even more drastic cut for everyone else. If we follow Monbiot's call for a complete decarbonisation of the world economy, how can you cut other sectors by 110%?

A medium-sized server has a similar carbon footprint to an SUV running at 15 MPG. 60% of Businesses are Lacking Support for Sustainable ICT Strategies. 86% of IT departments surveyed for the report do not know the carbon footprint of their computing. 1 000 PCs left on full time without energy saving use £70 000 of electricity a year. Less than 20% of IT depts see their energy bills, so have no idea of the levels of power they are consuming. Shockingly, each year, 125 million computers are taken out of circulation worldwide, with the majority of them ending up on landfill sites.

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