Did you know that each time you google something, you generate 7 grams of carbon dioxide? At least, that is the claim of Harvard University physicist Alex Wissner-Gross, whose report last January caused a stir in the IT community. According to The Times of London, Wissner-Gross said the search giant Google “operates huge data centers around the world that consume a great deal of power. A Google search has a definite environmental impact.” To put it in perspective, boiling a kettle of water generates about 15 grams of CO2; that may not be much, but consider that Google handles about 200 million searches each day and it all adds up. The Times cites a report from Gartner, the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company, as saying the global IT industry “generates about 2 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions.” That is about as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines emit.
Google, of course, denies this, saying its servers generate only 0.2 gram of CO2 per search. Regardless, it cannot be denied that the IT industry as a whole has a large carbon footprint (defined as “the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event or product”) generated from manufacturing, transport, sales, actual use, and, finally, disposal. Most of these aspects are beyond the control of the average user, but there are a few steps we can take to minimize the environmental impact of our computer use. This is one of the new thrusts of the IT committee of the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (DCCCII), and its IT figurehead (or “ghost in the machine,” as he describes himself now) Andre Fournier, spent some time with me to explain it.
Andre was the ICT (information and communication technology) committee chair of the DCCCII for some time and as such was among the major reasons there are so many call centers in Davao City now. He has done much to promote the ICT industry, and now, on an unofficial basis, he is heading DCCCII’s move towards making ICT an integral part of businesses themselves. These days the talk is no longer about technology per se but about how these technologies can benefit farmers, store owners, manufacturers, resort owners — everyone that has a stake in business. The thrust is on sustainability, and this involves making ICT environment-friendly.
LCD (left) vs CRT (right)
The first program is the phase-out of CRT (cathode ray tube) computer monitors — you know, those large-bodied monitors — by 2011. More than a hundred years old as a technology (it was invented in 1897), CRTs have been in use for decades and still account for much of the television sets and computer monitors in developing countries like the Philippines. One of the reasons they are so prevalent here is that first world countries dump them here — donating old computers that, while still useful, also put a strain on our resources when we use them. CRTs are notoriously power-hungry, eating up to 80 watts while more modern LCD (liquid crystal display) screens consume 35 watts –less than half.
For this reason, DCCCII is spearheading a program to rid the city of CRTs in two years’ time, primarily through the internet cafés. Since there is an Internet Café Accreditation Board in the city, it would be just a matter of requiring net cafés to replace their monitors with LCDs before their licenses would be renewed. The chamber will also launch an info campaign urging users to replace their CRTs with LCDs, harping on the fact that the prices of LCDs are getting lower and lower. Couple that with the fact that users can ultimately recoup their expense with the savings in their power bills and you’ve got a winning combination. DCCCII will collect old CRT monitors and then fan them out to be reused, recycled, or (as a last resort) discarded in an environment-friendly way. As Andre said, it would be no use to make a show of collecting the monitors if they will simply get dumped in the landfill or thrown in the river. To be continued
