The Economic Impacts of ICT: Sustainability

Introduction


Hi, I'm Luca and I am a student in year 10 at St. Francis Xavier's College in Woolton, Liverpool. One of the subjects I am currently studying at school is ICT, and I am going to share my knowledge and understanding of this subject with everyone in a series of blogs. In this particular blog, I will be discussing the economical impacts of ICT: sustainability. I hope that you enjoy this blog, and come away learning something new which you can hopefully pass on to someone else.


Use of Electricity


The use of electricity in ICT has had a huge economical impact on modern society over the years. The sheer amount of electricity that is needed to power up the millions of computers around the world is ridiculous. 

When electricity is used, it produces greenhouse gases because of the way it is generated. Therefore, the less electricity used, the better it will be for the environment. It is also cheaper for all of the companies and houses who are paying for all of that energy.


To help out at home, you can use the 'sleep mode' option on your computer which pretty much shuts it down when it is not currently in use. An alternative to this is to just switch it off.


Recycling


Over a million tonnes of ICT equipment are supposedly thrown away each year, and this is growing by around 80,000 tonnes each year.


The best way possible to recycle an old mobile phone, computer or any other piece of technological equipment is to simply give it to someone else for them to use it.

Over the years, a number of schemes have been made that will re-distribute the items that you wish to donate for other people to use instead of you. Some of these are commercial companies, where as others are charities.


Climate Change


As time has gone by, many more people have became increasingly concerned over our environment and climate change.

An example of this is the fact that we have scientific satellites orbiting the earth, looking down and measuring many different things, such as the state of polar ice over time, the flow of ocean currents, the alarming growth of deserts and a lot more.


The reason why all of this monitoring is taking place is because it may make the nations agree on the best way forward.


WEEE Directive


To encourage further recycling around the world, there is an EU directive called WEEE - Waste Electrical and Economical Equipment. It places an obligation on and stresses to an organisation such as a school or a hospital to recycle their old equipment.