Smartphones, Laptops, and Greenhouse Gases

[Jayda Panzavecc]

Our company recently started a go-green program and they've been posting lots of environmental facts in elevators, hallways, etc. Anyway, I don't know why I never thought about it before but it was only after reading one of those environmental facts that I realized that cellphones and laptops must produce so much greenhouse gases. Not only during usage but during production as well. In fact, I got so curious that I did a little bit of research and found this.

Smartphone charging spews out megatons of greenhouse gases

[virtuo]

It's not worded particularly well. The phones and laptops don't produce the gases, it's the fuel burning power stations. But then pretty much everything that uses electricity will do the same.

By those rules, just think how many greenhouse gases all these new Tesla electric cars are going to produce.

[Andy3536]

By those rules, just think how many greenhouse gases all these new Tesla electric cars are going to produce.

Ban them, ban them all!
Don't forget the Nissan leaf either!

[DDY]

News flash!

Electrical devices causes public shock... and produces carbon emissions!

[Zhaoman]

The lifestyle we live is dependent on extracting resources - if it can't be grown then it must be mined. Extraction, transport, processing, usage, waste, everything they all contribute. The planet doesn't have enough resources for everyone to keep living like this but the problem is not recognising the problem, it's realising the solution is to drastically cut our standard of living. Sharing our possessions like cars or even houses for example in order to reduce redundancy and waste, buying only local produce that's highly dependent on the seasons, designing and living in buildings that are suited to the environment it's in and doesn't require much input of heating/cooling etc (i.e. no glass skyscrapers). The more you think about what needs to change the more you start sounding like a hippie and you realise few people are prepared to sacrifice so many basic things we take for granted. So we continue like this and everything we do pushes us closer to the big resource crunch, global warming (dessication, sea level rise etc) groundwater pollution and so on.

The only thing you can do if you really care about making a tiny drop of change is to reduce your consumption of everything as much as possible and re-use things as much as you can instead of buying new: eat less meat, buy local produce, try to make your technology last a few years at least, buy second hand clothes, take public transport as much as you can, try not to have more than one child, try to convince your friends to do the same and have faith that we as a species are smart enough to keep coming up with solutions to the problems we encounter! Some of this might not be practical though due to being socially frowned upon funnily enough!

[Andy3536]

News flash!

Electrical devices causes public shock... and produces carbon emissions!

The irony of posting this, when it's likely they're trying for a free Scan delivery



But i stand by banning the Nissan Leaf, it's a menace!

[peterb]

The irony of posting this, when it's likely they're trying for a free Scan delivery

Hmm, as a non-uk member since 2014, and 17 posts in that time, I don't really think the OP is interested in that!

But to go back to the topic, it doesn't address the fact that mobile devices may be used in preference to desktop machines, which need more power, so while it may (or may not) be true that emissions caused by the use of smartphones may double, it doesn't consider how emissions matey be reduced by the decreased use of desktops.

But ultimately people use smartphones (and other devices). If you want to curb power use, reduce the birth rate.

[Jonj1611]

2024 Peter? I fear time machines at play.

[deejayburnout]

Now that we all should have upgraded our lights at home to LEDs, the reduced energy consumption of them should offset our smartphone charging.

[peterb]

2024 Peter? I fear time machines at play.

Dr Who? Fixed!

[Jayda Panzavecc]

Yep. There's so much that can be done. Our company even hired someone to monitor our energy consumption to see in which areas we can reduce it and how. I didn't even know that such companies existed and I think a lot of other companies should do it too.