How to be a good greenie..

Thesneakysneak

Hello been reading this board for a while and it is very infomitive,by the way my first post as well.The thing is can you be green and surf the web.The ammout of plastics metals chemicals and not forgetting the energy.A laptop or homebase uses is incredible,not forgetting the disposal of so said unit when finnished.As Well as the manufacture of the so said equipment and advertising.I suppose you can say that about nearly everything.By the way really enjoy the site and handy hints.Just thought i would express my thoughts and see what others thought.

chuckles1066

Thesneakysneak wrote: »

Hello been reading this board for a while and it is very infomitive,by the way my first post as well.The thing is can you be green and surf the web.The ammout of plastics metals chemicals and not forgetting the energy.A laptop or homebase uses is incredible,not forgetting the disposal of so said unit when finnished.As Well as the manufacture of the so said equipment and advertising.I suppose you can say that about nearly everything.By the way really enjoy the site and handy hints.Just thought i would express my thoughts and see what others thought.

You're kidding, right?

Ben84

Computers aren't the most environmentally sound thing to be making, but they are very useful and you don't have to create lots of electrical waste because you own one.

My computer is made largely from second hand parts, things that would otherwise be in a landfill if nobody reused them, and I never fully replace the computer. The keyboard, monitor, printer, mouse, case, sound card, drives, power supply, and many other parts can be reused with a few new parts to make a new computer when you finally need to upgrade.

People have a bad habit of throwing the whole computer out and buying a competely new one, which is a huge waste of money and resources. Shops encourage this by rarely selling just the base units alone. Unfortunately, many of the extras provided in popular computer stores are poor quality and do not last long either. It's pretty much a certainty that the bundled mouse and keyboard will be filling a landfill in short order. It all enforces the idea of throw-away technology.

I'm still using a keyboard from 1993, and the monitor is from 2001 or 2002 (I forget now), plus a laser printer which is about the same age as the monitor. I bought good quality items, so I see no reason to not keep and use them a long time.

IamJen

The amount of energy consumed by my laptop is minimal compared to many other items in the average (including ours) home.

Disposal of old computers is an issue, both because of landfill space and because of potentially dangerous materials in the computers. However, the answer is not to avoid computers altogether (like the Unabomber). Instead, let's make sure there are adequate ways of recycling the plastic/components involved (Germany has good programs in this area, for instance). Upgrade instead of purchasing new. Buy a refurbished computer. Offer your old parts/pieces on Freecycle, etc. etc.

If we're going to talk about energy consumption, we are all going to have to gegt rid of our cars before moving on to computers.

500yearvision

As recycling gets more sophisticated, we will be able to reuse the base materials used to create your lap top.
And accessing information on the Internet saves energy producing & transporting books & travelling to libraries.

Personally I'd consider paying a premium for a lap top which was made using recyclable plastic... and where there's a market, there's a way.