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Home -> CPM -> The Environmental Cost
The Environmental Cost
Environmental awareness has been growing in the forty years since the first Earth Day. In
the past decade, this awareness has reached a critical mass. Citizens of all countries
are expecting companies to act responsibly with regards to the Earth's environment.
Customers are looking for corporations to provide signs of their environmental stewardship.
In some circles, the moniker of "corporation" often assumes a blind drive towards profits
at the expense of all else. The recent failure of financial institutions does little to
improve anyone's faith that corporations can act responsibly. And yet, many organizations
large and small have leadership with broader perspectives than old-style capitalism.
The Environmental Cost of Computers
The environmental cost of running a single computer -- and keeping it running all the time -- is about
641 pounds of CO2 released per year. In a year, twenty computers (running full time) cause the
same emissions released by a single passenger car.
Consider an organization with 1000 computers. Left running all the time, these computers
use electricity whose generation created 291 metric tons of CO2. This is equal to the CO2
released by 56 cars of average fuel efficiency (24 mpg) in a year (12,000 miles) of driving.
Running those same computers during 'regular' work hours (2080 hours per year) results in
a reduction in 75% reduction in CO2 generated -- equivalent to taking 43 cars off the road for
an entire year.
Background
In the USA in 2007, one kilowatt-hour of electricity caused 1.33 pounds of Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
to be released into the atomosphere.
Some electricity sources, such as hyroelectric power, are quite "clean" and produce no
CO2.
Other sources, such as the burning of coal, produce quite a bit more.
In 2008, 70% of electricity generated in the USA was by burning fossil fuels.
Our numbers are calculated based on information found on a website managed by the
Energy Information Administration, a department of the US Department of Energy.
Our numbers for car-equivalents are based on the EPA-recommended value of 5.2 metric tons of CO2 for 1 car-equivalent.
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