A Sustainable Approach to Environmental Responsibility and IT Management

Sustainable Computing focuses on increasing the useful life and reducing the environmental impact of IT systems. When managed properly, it has a positive impact on IT’s bottom line, allowing higher standards of environmental responsibility to be implemented without additional cost to the business.

Sustainable Computing achieves these objectives by addressing every stage of the computer lifecycle.

• Reducing the impact of manufacturing.
  Computer manufacturing is resource and energy intensive. According to United Nations University, manufacturing a PC requires 1.8 tons of raw materials, about the same amount as required for a mid-size automobile. Plus, the process uses approximately 240 kilograms of fossil fuels—81 percent of the energy the computer will use throughout its life.

Extending lifecycles and capitalizing on opportunities for reuse can reduce the number of computers that are manufactured. That’s not a story you’ll hear from people who manufacture computers. But it is a story that must be told.

• Extending computer lifecycles.
  The rapid growth in computer performance during the 1990s established a rate of technology turnover that no longer makes sense. Extending desktop and laptop computer lifecycles beyond the traditional three years increases their value and measurably reduces their environmental impact.

  For every $1,000 in original cost, moving from a three-year to a four-year lifecycle generates savings of approximately $325. When lifecycles are extended to 4.5 years, the savings increase to nearly $500; at five years savings go to $650.



• Reusing computers when possible.
  Being able to quickly recover, refurbish and redeploy a computer that has been idled as a result of personnel or organizational changes can reduce the need for new technology. And, enabling a “second life” for surplus technology through remarketing or charitable donation can help fund responsible recycling or put badly needed technology in the hands of nonprofit organizations.

  According to the U.S. EPA’s Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator, reusing 1,000 desktop computer systems creates a carbon offset equivalent to the energy required to power 681 homes for a year and the greenhouse gasses produced by 481 cars in a year. Financial savings can also be significant: $1,000 for every computer redeployed.

• Applying higher standards to technology recycling.
  The economics of e-waste favor methods of disposal that have a negative impact on the environment. That means asset disposition companies can increase their profitability by exporting e-waste to developing nations or using low-cost prison labor.

  The Basel Action Network estimates that 80 percent of e-waste collected for recycling is shipped overseas for dismantling under horrific conditions, poisoning the people, land, air and water.

  Sustainable Computing employs an approach in which equipment is demanufactured to salvage usable components and remaining materials are processed for use in manufacturing other goods. Materials need to be tracked throughout the entire process to ensure the integrity of every downstream process.