Going beyond recycling

The global energy consumption of the Internet is estimated at 3-5%, but growing very rapidly. The entire global transport industry takes around 25%, by way of comparison. However, the production of computers and module devices is one of the most energy-intensive in the world, as Low Tech Magazine explains. All of the precision engineering, in large complex fabrication plants, means that the energy required to make each device (known as the “embedded energy”) is HUGE.

The magazine calculates that the energy required to make just the memory chip in a laptop exceeded the amount of energy consumed by the computer in its entire lifetime, typically three years. Each successive generation of fabrication plants is significantly more energy intensive than the last.

Add to this the fact that most of the materials used for such devices are scarce and we have a big problem. What can be done is to look at it bottom up. Reducing sustainability impact alone will not be enough.

New materials, less rare ones, will have to be tried out. An even bigger change of thinking will have to come in designing things to make them reusable, not simply recyclable. Much like Lego, equipment will be made of parts which can be removed, replaced, or extended. It will call upon a rethink of the entire production process and service model.