Re: [asa] Ban on computers reportedly wanted.

At 07:33 PM 4/8/2007, Randy Isaac wrote:

>" .. the data are way out of date. .." ~ Randy

@ Here's some that
isn't. 11/7/06 "...Furthermore, new
technologies such as those used to produce and
process nanoscale materials and other advanced
manufacturing processes exceed the energy use of
older technologies by six to eight orders of
magnitude on a per-unit-of-material-processed basis,.."

Note that the "what will they try to do next"
clue - (roll-back/limit large-scale production
and consumption) - is found near the bottom of the MIT article below.

It follows these sorts of sentiments: "At the
core of Tertullian's teachings lay his bitter
admonition that life in the 2nd century had
become too extravagant, too wasteful, and that
population growth had run out of control. Mankind
was raping the Earth of its resources, he warned
grimly "...we men have actually become a burden
to the Earth ... the Earth can no longer support
us ..." And, to escape total planetary
destruction, mankind had to withdraw to the past
and practice severe asceticism, living in a
simpler more natural state. ~ Tertullian of
Carthage. Fast-forward 1800 years... [Algore
of Carthage (TN) http://www.opinionet.com/staff/gw4-switalski.shtml

~ Janice :)

Source: <http://web.mit.edu>Massachusetts Institute Of Technology
Date: November 7, 2006

  Engineer Launches Review Of Energy Use In Manufacturing
<http://www.sciencedaily.com>Science Daily ­
Timothy G. Gutowski's mission is to help the
manufacturing industry lighten up, energy-wise.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061106145912.htm

With a grant from the National Science
Foundation, the MIT professor of mechanical
engineering is reviewing energy use in
manufacturing processes such as machining,
grinding, injection molding, advanced machining
methods and microelectronics fabrication methods.
The goal is to compare the environmental
performance of traditional methods to alternative
processes, alternative product designs and proposed new processes.

The work is important because manufacturing plays
a big role in U.S. energy use. Industry accounts
for around 30 percent of the total, and
manufacturing is responsible for around 80
percent of industrial use. In addition, the
manufacturing industry designs and builds all of
the equipment used in the other major energy use sectors.

"Manufacturing processes can be thought of as
products with a huge energy appetite," he said.
This contributes to global warming but is not as
visible to the public as gas-guzzling SUVs or
images of melting polar ice caps. "Many people
are not aware of the energy requirements for many
manufacturing processes," said Gutowski, who,
after extensive work in aerospace materials and
composites, switched fields seven years ago _to
satisfy a need_ "to contribute to society in a
bigger way." [Mother Gaia or Mr. Deep Pockets calling??]

The problem isn't that industry isn't interested
in being environmentally friendly. In fact, in an
MIT Laboratory for Manufacturing and Productivity
working paper from earlier this year, Gutowski
wrote that the World Business Council for
Sustainable Development includes 180
international corporations, and the Global
Environmental Management Initiative has members
in 22 business sectors totaling $915 billion in
annual sales. And, he added, many leading
corporations have adopted sustainable development
as a major corporate strategy.

But there are paradoxes.

For one, because of increased efficiency, energy
use per kilogram of product produced by major
industrial sectors has been declining. But,
Gutowski pointed out, efficiency and increased
production go hand in hand. And usually,
increased production more than offsets any gains
in efficiency. "Hence, energy efficiency alone
has not resulted in an absolute reduction in energy use," he said.

Further, in the United States, the barriers to
"environmentally benign manufacturing" differ
from industry to industry and can be frustratingly complex.

For instance, Gutowski said, automobiles,
compared with other products, are already
recycled very effectively, with only around 15
percent of the average car ending up in a
landfill at the end of its life. So a suggested
manufacturing alternative--using lightweight
composites instead of steel--would solve one
problem (making cars lighter and more
fuel-efficient) while creating several others:
Composite materials would increase waste because
they are currently not recyclable, have no
feasible recycling technologies on the horizon
and increase manufacturing costs.

Meanwhile, microelectronics has different issues.
Computers are used for approximately two to three
years, compared with around 10 years for a car,
and the recycling rate for all electronics is
quite low. In addition, the manufacture of
integrated circuits--the devices at the heart of
all electronics products--requires the use of
ultrapure materials and energy-intensive manufacturing processes.

Furthermore, new technologies such as those used
to produce and process nanoscale materials and
other advanced manufacturing processes exceed the
energy use of older technologies by six to eight
orders of magnitude on a per-unit-of-material-processed basis, Gutowski said.

Gutowski hopes these challenges can be overcome
through the development of new technologies, the
creation of new policies and, maybe most
important, the public's willingness to foster
change and absorb some of the costs. "People will
pay more in the short run for environmentally
friendly products," he said. "There will be a
cost to this, but I don't think it will be something we can't manage."

Gutowski added that one of the most important
things we can do is "educate our students and
citizens about the high cost of our ____
large-scale production and consumption on the
ecosystems that presently support life___ as we know it."

*
2004:
<http://www.it-environment.org/publications/hybrid%20PC%20LCA%20abstract.pdf>http://www.it-environment.org/publications/hybrid%20PC%20LCA%20abstract.pdf.

Energy intensity of computer manufacturing:
hybrid assessment combining process and economic input-output methods
Eric Williams United Nations University 53-70
Jingumae 5-chome, Shibuya-ku Tokyo, Japan Phone:
81-3-5467-1352, Fax: 81-3-3406-7346, Email: Williams@hq.unu.edu

Abstract

The total energy and fossil fuels used in
producing a desktop computer with 17-inch CRT
monitor are estimated at 6,400 megajoules (MJ) or
260 kg respectively. This indicates that computer
manufacturing is energy intensive: the ratio of
fossil fuel use to product weight is 11, an order
of magnitude larger than the factor of 1-2 for
many other manufactured goods. This high energy
intensity of manufacturing, combined with rapid
turnover in computers, results in an annual life
cycle energy burden that is surprisingly high:
about 2,600 MJ per year, 1.3 times that of a
refrigerator. In contrast with many home
appliances, life cycle energy use of a computer
is dominated by production (81%) as opposed to
operation (19%). Extension of usable lifespan
(e.g. by reselling or upgrading) is thus a
promising approach to mitigating energy impacts,
as well as other environmental burdens associated
with manufacturing and disposal. Publishing
information: Energy intensity of computer
manufacturing: hybrid analysis combining process
and economic input-output methods”, E. Williams,
Environmental Science & Technology 38(22), 6166
- 6174 (2004). http://pubs.acs.org/journals/esthag/

>"..the very act of manufacturing a computer
>degrades the environment by using massive
>amounts of resources-clean water, intensive
>labor in clean rooms-and producing toxic waste
>in quantities that far outweigh any potential
>positive effects that one computer could have on the world.
>
>In fact, these are the resources used to make one 8-inch wafer:
>
>4,267 cubic feet of bulk gases
>3,787 gallons of waste water
>27 pounds of chemicals
>29 cubic feet of hazardous gases
>9 pounds of hazardous waste
>3,023 gallons of de-ionized water
>
>Not only is semiconductor manufacturing the
>worst air polluting industry, it also uses
>several million gallons of water a day."
>
>Excerpted from "Chips Ahoy: The hidden toll of
>computer manufacture and use," by John C. Ryan and Alan Thein Durning:
>
>*

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Received on Sun Apr 8 21:13:05 2007