Re: Retiring the sparc32 port
On Wed, Jul 18, 2007 at 04:45:41PM +0000, Jordan Bettis wrote:
> Also I think the production costs of a new machine are often far more
> important than energy use.
FWIW
I decided to google to see if I could find stuff to back up this
claim. I found plenty:
<http://www.chemistry.org/portal/a/c/s/1/feature_pol.html?id=c373e9ffbf73ffac8f6a17245d830100>
: Computing equipment differs significantly from many other consumer
: products because the vast majority of the energy it uses over its
: lifetime 81%, according to Williams' calculations is required during
: the manufacturing process.
: In this context, extending the lifetime of computers becomes
: important. "Reselling or upgrading computers uses 20 times less energy
: than recycling," Williams explains. Other studies have shown that many
: computers are shipped to the developing world, where they are recycled
: in environmentally destructive ways (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36,
: 52A-53A), such as open acid baths, he says.
<http://update.unu.edu/archive/issue31_5.htm>
: 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.
<http://www.it-environment.org/compenv.html>
: Manufacturing computers is materials intensive; the total fossil fuels
: used to make one desktop computer weigh over 240 kilograms, some 10
: times the weight of the computer itself. This is very high compared to
: many other goods: For an automobile or refrigerator, for example, the
: weight of fossil fuels used for production is roughly equal to their
: weights.
: Extending the usable life is very effective for reducing all types of
: burdens, but relatively few older PCs are being resold, refurbished or
: recycled -- most are stored in warehouses, basements, or closets and
: eventually end up in landfills.
<http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20021112-961.html>
: Many people are concerned about computer's power consumption and
: minimizing the fossil fuels used to keep a system running. It may turn
: out more environmental damage is done in building the computer than in
: its lifetime of use.
Cheers,
--
Jordan Bettis -- Chicago Il.
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