With a heatwave roasting the UK at the moment, people may have felt a stark reminder of the broader climate change affecting the planet. In an increasingly online and computer dependent world, a significant part of the changes needed to reduce our waste and power consumption must be felt by the IT sector. Tech companies are inarguably responsible for some contributing issues, from the energy expended extracting the raw materials, to the power we use to run machines on a daily basis.
Many organisations in the IT space have begun to adopt ‘Green IT’ policies, with the aim of minimizing or eliminating the negative impact of IT operations on the environment. This could be attempting to switch to renewable power sources, offsetting carbon use through tree planting, or trying to increase the lifecycle of equipment.
One of the most significant points of waste and pollution for the IT sector is the relatively short lifespan of the equipment used. An adage within the IT industry entitled ‘Moore’s Law’, named for the former Fairchild Semiconductor founder and later Intel CEO who thought it up, predicted that the number of semiconductors in an integrated circuit would double around every two years. In layman’s terms, the relative power of a computer would double in the same period, rendering machines produced just two years earlier obsolete. While Moore’s law is no longer realistically thought to apply at anywhere near the same rate to commercially available products, the industry has emphasised the importance of regular upgrades to consumers. Although, most daily computer users are unlikely to feel the benefit of regular, incremental upgrades outside of 3D graphics or other industry specific intensive tasks. Focusing consumer attention on upgrades rather than maintenance means a lot of machines have a lifespan of just a few short years and there are a phenomenal number of resources and energy spent on producing replacements.
Companies like Apple have historically fought the ‘Right to Repair’ movement at every turn, only faltering slightly in the past couple of years. Recently the tech monolith started supplying repair outlets with parts, though some suspect this may only be an attempt to cut out the lucrative third-party parts industry they were growing increasingly jealous of. The EU have recently introduced legislation requiring manufacturers to facilitate the repair of their electrical goods for at least 10 years after coming to market. This will directly benefit consumers who wish to extend the lifespan of their equipment and hopefully reduce the colossal sum of resources used to produce new machines, as well as supporting a fast-growing circular economy of professional repair shops and second-hand markets.
Here at Pearce IT, we’ve been dedicated to implementing Green IT policies for a long time. The telecoms section of our business managed to achieve carbon neutral status all the way back in 2012!
One of the significant changes we’ve made to offset carbon is switching to electric vehicles. Though our traveling around might have been limited since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, electric vehicles still save a huge amount of carbon emissions through our day-to-day activities.
If you’re interested in finding out more and want to know how you could offset your carbon footprint through more environmentally friendly IT practices, contact Pearce IT, call 01452 222000.