Impact on Environment

Well, the most harmful effect is that Computers release very high amount of CO2.

Further environmental problems caused by computers include a large amount of energy consumption during the production of computers as well as by the use of computers. "For the manufacturing of a normal PC approx. 30'000 mega joule in energy are used.
The more dangerous effect is the release of toxic chemicals that are used in the manufacture hardware and in the disposal of computers. In the manufacturing of just one 8 inch wafer 4,267 cubic feet of bulk gases, 27 pounds of chemicals, 29 cubic feet of hazardous gases and 9 pounds of hazardous waste are given off. In addition over 3787 gallons of water are wasted. All the chemicals and toxins that are released often end up polluting ground water and harming people’s health. Even cleaning agents for computer equipment (such as chlorofluorocarbons) is bad for the environment even they are very harmful to the ozone layer.

 


The saving of paper is possible in theory; but in practice computers have increased paper use. After a hard disk crash and a virus or two, most of us justifiably mistrust electronic storage methods. It is always safer to make a hard copy—just in case. And the ease of printing constantly tempts us to put out a flashy and colorful memo or letter or report or handout or flier. We know, of course, if we ever stop to think about it, that nine tenths of what we print will never be read—who has the time to read it?—but to see all those neatly-formatted sheets successively emerging from the printer makes us feel so … productive.

The average 24 kg desktop computer with monitor requires at least 10 times its weight in fossil fuels and chemicals to manufacture, much more materials intensive than an automobile or refrigerator, which only require 1-2 times their weight in fossil fuels. Researchers found that manufacturing one desktop computer and 17-inch CRT monitor uses at least 240 kg of fossil fuels, 22 kg of chemicals and 1,500 kg of water – a total of 1.8 tonnes of materials.While computers become smaller and more powerful, their environmental impacts are increasing. The materials- and energy-intense production process, greater adoption of PCs worldwide, plus the rapid rate at which they are discarded for newer machines, add up to growing mountains of garbage and increasingly serious contributions to resource depletion, environmental pollution and climate change. 

 


Sales of personal computers have exploded. The 300,000 "desktop" computer sales in the U.S. in 1980 increased 500% the following year and doubled again a year later. Today, despite the high-tech meltdown of the late 1990s, computer sales grow about 10 percent a year and more than 130 million computers are being sold each year around the world. By the end of 2002, one billion PCs had been sold worldwide.