Digital Life Cycles at MITA look at the Environmental Impacts of Computers and solutions at MIT

Aaron BealsVibhav RangarajanSanjay K. RaoEnvironment and SocietyMassachusetts Institute of Technology12/6/2001

Agenda

I. Computer Composition and Waste

II. MIT Student Computer Use Patterns

III. MIT Athena and Department Computers

IV. MIT Recycling Initiatives

V. New Environmental Solutions to Close Life Cycle Loops

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ComputerCreation

Life Cycle of Computers

Environmental Impacts of Computers

Integral Part of Economic Success Proliferation of Computers

50% of Households have at least 1 Computer More and More Pervasive

Shortening Life Cycles Resource and Chemical Intense Manufacturing

Process like few other Products. Hidden Waste Liabilities

Storage of Computers v. Disposal

Semiconductors Manufacturing is Resource Intensive

Manufacturing an Intel 6” Wafer Inputs:

3,200 cubic feet of gases (Nitrogen, Argon, Ammonium)

22 cubic feet are Hazardous Gases

2,275 Gallons of WaterOutputs:

25 Pounds of Hydroxide 7 Pounds of Hazardous

Waste 2840 gallons of Waste

Water

Source: Semiconductor International Magazine, 1997

Hazards of Computer Waste

Lead 4-8 lbs/computer (CRT) 5% recycling efficiency 1.2 billion lbs by 2004

Plastics Around 22% of Computer 20% Recyclability

Mercury Small amount 0% recycling efficiency 400,000 lbs by 2004

Source: Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC). 1996.Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap. Austin, TX:  MCC.

Computer Numbers Increasing

In 1998: 20 million obsolete PCs (U.S.)

Recycling Rate: 11% 18 million PCs of

PotentialWaste.

By 2000: 75,000 tons of Computer Waste (MA)

Sources: http://www.informinc.org/cwp2fscomputer.htm and http://www1.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/04/03/disposal.ban.idg/index.html

Photo courtesy of Recycling Council of Ontario

Looking Ahead

By 2004: 315 million obsolete PCs (US)

By 2007: 500 million obsolete PCs (US)

MA Computer-Waste: By 2000: 75,000

tons By 2005: 300,000

tons Hidden Computer Waste

75 % of Computers are Saved

Hidden Liabilities

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Sources: http://www.informinc.org/cwp2fscomputer.htm,http://www1.cnn.com/2000/fyi/news/12/11/computer.recycling/

Agenda

I. Computer Composition and Waste

II. MIT Student Computer Use Patterns

III. MIT Athena and Department Computers

IV. MIT Recycling Initiatives

V. New Environmental Solutions to Close Life Cycle Loops

Computer Use

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ComputerCreation

Do you Leave Your Computer On Even When You are Not Using It?

Yes

No

Sometimes

79% Leave Computer On17% Turn Computer Off

Problem: Energy Use

Would you be willing to stop using your computer or delay purchasing a computer and use Athena and a free PDA-like Device provided by MIT?

01020304050607080

Percent

Yes No

Action

Use of Alternatives

Some People Willing to Try Alternatives

What do you plan to do with your computer when it becomes obsolete?

End of Computer Life

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20

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40

50

Dispose Save It Recycle Other

Action

Perc

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t o

f

Resp

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den

ts

Information Systems Survey

Student Computers: Survey Conducted (Spring 2000)

http://web.mit.edu/acs/survey2000-results.html: 92% of said they owned a computer and 22% said they

owned 2 or more computers 88% use an IBM-PC clone 80% have desktop machines 52% of students with computers own printers as well. 56% buy computers from manufacturers and local retail. The most common uses for computers by students are:

Reading and sending email, Homework assignments, and surfing the web.

Approximate Lifetime of computer is 4 years.

Agenda

I. Computer Composition and Waste

II. MIT Student Computer Use Patterns

III. MIT Athena and Department Computers

IV. MIT Recycling Initiatives

V. New Environmental Solutions to Close Life Cycle Loops

Computer Use

_

ComputerCreation

Departmental/Faculty Computers at MIT

Estimated ratio of computers to faculty and administrative staff is 1.5:1

Types of Hardware Mostly Intel chips Research facilities use workstations are mostly Sun chips

NECX (http://web.mit.edu/ecat/necx/) Approx. 50% of departmental computer purchases

Others from manufacturer directly or through reseller.

Departmental/Faculty Computers at MIT

650 Dell and Apple computers purchased and deployed last year.

800 estimated for this year. Common Uses:

Staff/Administrative Personnel: financial and administrative tasks, communications,

web, email, word processing Faculty/Researchers:

Simulations, processor intensive applications Lifetime

3 to 4 years Improved processor speeds allow 4 year cycles in future

Athena Computers at MIT

422 Athena workstations in clusters About that many departmental Athena

machines Currently deployed machines:

Sun SunBlade 100 512 MB RAM 500 MHz processor 19 inch Sun monitor

Dell Optiplex GX 150 512 MB RAM 1 GHz Pentium III processor 19 inch Sony Trinitron monitor

Athena Computers at MIT

Purchasing Bought in bulk from manufacturer Some individual purchases None come from donations.

Lifetime Most machines are replaced every 4 years Some Dell machines are on 3 year cycle.

Source: Joanne Straggas and Oliver Thomas MIT Information Systems

What Is to Blame?

Moore’s Law Consumer Attitudes Inadequate Education About Options

Moore’s Law

Processors double in speed: 18 months Puts pressure on engineers Computer power outpacing customer

need

Consumer Attitudes

Consumer needs: word processing, web surfing, e-mail

Computing power of PC underutilized Must have the newest, fastest, best Willing to pay $1500 / 18months

Inadequate Education

Consumers, companies, institutions not informed about their options!

1.1. RecycleRecycle

2.2. DonateDonate

3.3. ReuseReuse

What’s Being Done Now?

Reuse Email list Give away unwanted machines to other students

Disposal Old Athena workstations and monitors are picked

up a by a disposal company – required by Mass. State law.

Not much recycling of machines occurs

What’s Being Done Now? Donations

A group donates used laptops to families in third world countries so they can communicate with their children/relatives at MIT

Jerry Burke works with Cambridge School Science Departments gets used computers, restores them, and donates them to

Cambridge schools (if not useful at school, donates to Church) Informal network at MIT – from MIT departments, faculty/staff

home computers, graduating students who no longer want their machines.

Paperwork is a pain (need to get machine decommissioned by MIT Property Office) – people are willing if he takes care of paperwork.

Source: Jerry Burke

Agenda

I. Computer Composition and Waste

II. MIT Student Computer Use Patterns

III. MIT Athena and Department Computers

IV. MIT Recycling Initiatives

V. New Environmental Solutions to Close Life Cycle Loops

Computer Use

Computer Recycled

ComputerCreation

Our Solution

The Central Office (C.O.) In charge of computing at MIT Controls all flows in / out Maintains inventory database Controls internal flows

C.O. Duties

Purchases (Green computing – NECX) Student Departmental

Inventory C.O. Purchased machines Student-owned machines (done already) Simplifies paperwork

C.O. : Student Purchases

Subsidize student purchases Recycle old campus machines “Obsolete” computers are fine for email,

etc. Promote purchases from “green”

companies Environmentally friendly Canon, Toshiba, IBM See SVTC list

C.O. : Power-Saving

Purchase Energy-Star compliant machines

Ensure power-down of unnecessary devices

CRT timeouts Issues raised by IS Our solution: 10-minute timeout

C.O. : Distributed Computing

MIT computing resources underutilized Distributed computing saves money Old machines still useful! Current examples:

SETI@Home distributed.net United Devices

C.O. : End-of-Life

Reuse Current Method: reuse@mit Proposed Method: reuse@mit web page Departmental reuse

Coordinated by C.O. “Obsolete” machines revalued

C.O. : End-of-Life

Donation Charity Organizations, Schools,

Libraries, Overseas Programs In Massachusetts:

Cambridge Computer Donation Program East-West Education Development

Foundation Mindshare Collaborative TecsChange Virtually Wired Educational Foundation

MIT Impacts the World

Lack of Environmentally-aware classes (Course 6, especially)

MIT needs green-design classes PCB Parts Modular computing

Change can start here!

Summary

Computer waste is a manageable problem Student level Institute level

MIT’s current system inadequate Our Proposal

E-mail to MCC, IS, SIPB, Property Office Posted on web page