[Wolves] Environmental impact of websites

[Chris Procter]

Power not just for the viewing PC but for the server and all the routers,
switches and telecoms infrastructure in between, plus the costs of
transporting coal etc to powewr stations and of disposing of nuclear waste.

For paper you have not just the CO2 that the trees can no longer absorb but
also the diesel used to transport the wood, the chemicals used to turn the
wood into paper (which are pretty noxious iirc) and then the transport of
the book to the bookshop and home. Some of which can be offset as most wood
for paper comes from managed forests which replant trees.

You could try getting in touch with Greepeace/FOE/Dept. Of Environment and
see if they have figures for the environmental impact of paper production
(maybe as part of a study of  recycled paper), they probably also have
figures for the environmental costs of energy production as well as a price
per Megawatt (the sort of thing quoted as part of renewable energy studies).
How reliable any data (from any side) would be is a matter of debate
however.

Its a question that can be as big as you like and could probably form a
great PhD thesis if you were willing to spend 3 years on it (which I somehow
doubt is your intention :-) ) I look forward to reading your article.


chris


-----Original Message-----
From: bambam at opendildonics.org [mailto:bambam at opendildonics.org]
Sent: 21 January 2004 14:44
To: Wolverhampton Linux User Group
Subject: Re: [Wolves] Environmental impact of websites


My first thought is to do a small calculation:

Making and distributing harcopy costs trees and so in turn
costs CO2 (since the trees aren't around to use up the CO2).

Distributing over the web costs power: which in turn comes
from (mostly) fossil fuels and so costs us CO2 emissions.

Perhaps you could discuss the balance of these two and
contributing factors to both?

Just a quick thought.

bambam

-- 
Cry 'Socket(),' and let slip the packets of war;

On Tue, 20 Jan 2004, Matthew Revell wrote:

> Howdy all,
>
> I'm researching an article on the environmental impact of websites.
> There's been some talk, in recent years, of how publishing via the web is
> more environmentally friendly, than traditional paper-based publishing.
>
> I'm in the early stages of putting together my research, so I don't have
> any definite questions to ask and I won't ask them in here, anyway.
> However, if anyone has an interest in the subject, please let me know at
> matt.revell at contentpeople.co.uk, and we can have a chat. There's a beer in
> it, for anyone who's particularly helpful :)
>
> --
>
> Matthew Revell
> www.understated.co.uk
> www.contentpeople.co.uk
>
> _______________________________________________
> Wolves LUG mailing list
> Homepage: http://www.wolveslug.org.uk/
> Mailing list: Wolves at mailman.lug.org.uk
> Mailing list home: http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/wolves
>


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