Are you typing away on a laptop? Have you ever stopped to wonder where your old computers / electronics go? I am fascinated at the rate at which computers, let alone technology itself, have evolved in the short span of 5 – 10 years. As such, my history of relationships with computers have reached beyond 10 different machines! So here goes the green query I researched today.

Let me start off by introducing One Laptop per Child (OLPC), an education program with a mission to provide children in the most remote developing countries with access to computers / technology / a window to the rest of the world. This non-profit organization focuses on designing, manufacturing, and distributing so called US$100 XO laptops, initially concentrating on those governments that have made commitments for the funding and program support.

(Apart from the humanitarian benefits of encouraging education and learning which is another topic to capture…) XO has received the first laptop “gold” award by EPEAT (an organization that assesses the environmental impact of computers and peripherals) for being non-toxic, fully recyclable, smaller and consuing 90% lower power and more durable with an approximate 5 year lifetime (versus 2.5 for a typical laptop).

If all computer users switched from their desktops and laptops to the OLPC XO laptop: $9B US dollars could be saved in world-wide electricity bills. This savings is enough to outright buy laptops for 50 million children. In addition, 50 million barrels of oil could be saved, and 65 million metric tons of environmental CO2 emissions could be avoided. In carbon-offset dollars for electricity use alone, another ~$500 million US dollars could be saved yearly.*

Fact:

- E-WASTE: Phones and computers contain dangerous metals like lead, cadmium and mercury, which can contaminate the air and water when dumped. UN estimates that the world produces 20 to 50 million tons of e-waste a year. US is the world’s top producer, but much of it is “exported” to developing nations like China, India and Nigeria. Citizens of developing countries dismantle the electronics to try to salvage reusable parts. This involves melting down / stripping the components, which produces harmful and toxic fumes. Despite the environmental and health costs to the poor countries, money made from the process fuels the vicious cycle

- EPA estimates that electronics waste amounts to more than 1.5 million tons in landfills across the country

- 230 million personal computers are dumped in landfills every year