Final.Laptop Vs. Desktop(3)

GROUP 6 KEWL

GROUPBy

Wesley Sparks

And

Alex Dunn

LAPTOPS VS. DESKTOPS

INTRODUCTIONWe plan to find the facts and truth behind the popular question Which is more “green”, the Laptop or the Desktop?By popular internet belief, the Laptop is the more ecologically friendly machine, however it is likely that the people came up with that conclusion ignoring extremely important factors like production costs, recyclability, disposal costs, and life span.

LAPTOP: BATTERY PRODUCTION COST

A laptop battery consists of copper wire that connects a positive and negative electrode. Materials used include carbon, alkaline, chlorine, lithium ion, lead, nickel, sodium, silicon, copper, and a list of other chemicals, some of which are harmful to the environment if burned or cremated. Laptop battery production is very expensive, however materials in a battery can and should be recycled. Contain dangerous heavy metals, acid wastes, and waste alkali.

LAPTOP: BATTERY DISPOSAL

Improper disposal, and lack of recycling, of Laptop batteries causes disastrous environmental harm. Heavy metals in batteries cadmium, lead, mercury, nickel, zinc, and manganese are all harmful to humans. Batteries improperly disposed, like the ones that are simply thrown into landfills and garbage piles in China, can lead to severe water pollution. A single disposed laptop battery can cause about a square meter of land to lose value.

LAPTOP: BATTERY RECYCLABILITY 1It is very important to recycle laptop batteries. Not only are they harmful to the environment by simply sitting out in the sunlight and air, but the valuable metals contained inside the battery are reusable. The recycling process starts out with separation into groups based on chemical make-up, such as nickel-cadmium, nickel-metal-hydride, lithium, and alkaline. Then the combustible material is removed and naked cells only containing the precious metals are formed.

LAPTOP: BATTERY RECYCLABILITY 2After that, the metals are sent back to the manufacturing companies for reuse. Battery recycling is a must for environmental protection. As of now many laptop batteries are being disposed of improperly because recycling is more costly for companies, but recycling is becoming an ever prevailing alternative.

PICTURES

Dissected Laptop Battery

Display of the kinds of heavy metals inside batteries

LAPTOP: PRODUCTION COST/ MATERIALS

Generally laptop’s consist of four major parts for production, the upper cover, screen frame, keyboard cover and lower cover. Top and medium-grade covers are primarily made of a substance called “Magaluma, and low-grade covers are made out of plastics. Magaluma is aluminum-magnesium alloy and it serves as a protective case” (Research and Market) when it is applied as a thin powder casing.

LAPTOP: PRODUCTION COST/ MATERIALS

It is estimated that the 2-gram microchips used in laptops for memory require at least 3.7 pounds of fuel and chemicals to produce. In addition to that it takes about 70 pounds of water. While a car’s weight versus the weight of the things needed to produce it is 1-2, for a laptop’s microchip this scale is 1-630 (Sharaf).

LAPTOP: ENERGY CONSUMPTIONStudies have shown that laptops consume and average of 15W in high power mode and only 3W in low power mode. Also, when charging but turned off laptops consume between 12W and 24W.

DESKTOP: PRODUCTION MATERIALDesktops primarily consist of three parts, the main processing machine which itself consists of power supplier, fan, IC boards, DVD drive, CD drive, hard disk, and soft disk and shell casing, the monitor, and the keyboard. Desktops contain many materials such as heavy metals, chemicals, and elements however two components are especially harmful. One of such is the monitor.

DESKTOP: THE MONITORDesktop monitors are especially hazardous because

they contain cathode ray tube. Cathode ray tubes make up about 50% of the monitors weight. They consist of a number of chemicals, but the most important is its 20% lead content. When monitors are permitted to waste away in landfills the lead is leached into the soil and water which can be dangerous to humans by creeping its way through the food chain.

LCD monitors which have now surpassed the CRT monitors don’t have the lead content making them ecologically better, however they have a large mercury content which is very problematic in landfills. In addition to that LCD monitors require 266Kg more fossil fuels to produce.

DESKTOP: PLASTIC CASINGSThe plastics contained within desktops are used for protective cases. They contain materials such as polybrominated diphenyl ethers which are part of a wider group known as brominated flame retardants (BFRs). BFRs are difficult to recycle because of their high bromine content which makes they hard to separate from normal plastics. The effects of BFRs on humans are largely unknown, however they have proved to be toxic to lab rats. Traces of BFRs are being found in higher concentrations in humans.

DESKTOP: ENERGY CONSUMPTIONAccording to desktop analysis study, a typical desktop

computer uses a considerable amount of electrical energy. The average CPU uses 120 Watts (W = 1 joule/second) of electricity, while a CRT monitor consumes an added 150 W. “This implies that a standard office computer which is left on 8 hours per day, for 5 days a week can consume up to 561.6 kW of fossil fuel derived energy. This figure more than triples if such computer is left on over night for the entire week” (Environmental Impact of Computer Information).

Another study showed desktops using up about 55W in high power mode and 25W in low power. It also said CRT monitors were about 85W when turned on for the average size monitor (Environmental Impact of Computer Information).

DESKTOP: RECYCLABILITYIn 2005 about 61 percent, or 107,500 tons, of CRT monitors were collected for recycle and reuse, leaving a large portion to be tossed in a landfill and harm the environment. However, a study showed that from 2000 to 2005 the amount of desktop units recycled went up from 3 million to 5 million. In this process, the lead recover rate is only 6 percent, so hundreds of thousands of tons of lead is lost or let to sit out in landfills.

THE WINNERThe laptop was the clear winner in our eyes because of the fact that it topped the desktop by a good amount in its potency as e-waste, because of the fact that the desktop is so much larger, as has a very hazardous composition for its monitors. The amount of heavy metals and acids in a laptop battery does not compare to the CRT monitor of a desktop. Not only that, but its energy consumption rate is also much higher. Although the average lifespan of a desktop is about twice that of a laptop, it doesn’t make up for its energy consumption and amount of toxic materials. Other than that, the recyclability for both is about the same.

THE WORLD’S GREENEST COMPUTER

Its pretty much impossible to find the absolute undeniably most ecological computer, however all the potential candidates are not the traditional desktop or laptop. One such machine is called the Cherrypal PC which uses only “2W of power and weighs as little as 284 grams. The Cherrypal is made of typical plastics used in other computers that aren’t biodegradable, however it uses 80% fewer components” (Carlise).

“The device itself is a type of computing system capable of text editing, media playing, and web browsing. The Cherrypal is built using a 400MHz mobileGT processor, 256MB of DDR2 DRAM and 4GB of NAND Flash-based SSD. It also provides the user with wifi and an ethernet port” (Carlise). All that for 250$ makes it a difficult temptation for green lovers to turn down.

The device is about the size of a notebook and was created for the large portion of people who only use computers for Word and office programs.

WORKS CITED 1 Bluejay, Michael. "How much electricity does my computer use?" Saving

Electricity. June 2008. 7 June 2009 <http://michaelbluejay.com/      electricity/computers.html>.

"Electronics Recycling." EWasteFactSheet. Illinois Department of Commerce and      Economic Opportunity. 7 June 2009 <http://www.commerce.state.il.us/NR/      rdonlyres/8DD41FE3-A7ED-4447-87C0-DD05815F2747/0/EwasteFactSheet.pdf>.

"One Laptop Per Child/Computer." One Laptop Per Child. 7 June 2009      <http://laptop.org/en/laptop/index.shtml>. 

"Research and Markets: Currently, 55% Laptop Manufacturers Adopt Magaluma as the  Material of the..." AllBusiness. 6 June 2008. Businesswire. 7 June 2009      <http://www.allbusiness.com/electronics/      computer-electronics-manufacturing-computer/10523886-1.html>. 

WORKS CITED 2

Sharaf. "E-waste and Recycling." Soaphia. 13 Dec. 2008. 7 June 2009      <http://soaphia.com/?cat=41>. 

Steeves, Catherine, and Gillian Maurice. "Superconference 2007." Accessola. 1      Feb. 2007. 7 June 2009 <www.accessola2.com/superconference2007/thurs/307/      green.ppt>. 

Adamson, Melanie, Hamilton, Robert, Hutchison, Kazmierowski, Lau, MacDonald. “Environmental Impact of Computer Information Technology in an Institutional Setting: A Case Study at the University of Guelph” June 2009 http://www.uoguelph.ca/isc/documents/050602environcs_000.pdf

Carlise, Courtney. “Hot Tech: Cherry Pal”. June 2009. <http://www.canvasandclover.com/?p=18>