Transcript Powerpoint

Digital Life Cycles at
MIT
A look at the Environmental Impacts of Computers and
solutions at MIT
Aaron Beals
Vibhav Rangarajan
Sanjay K. Rao
Environment and Society
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
12/6/2001
Agenda
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Computer Composition
and Waste
MIT Student Computer
Use Patterns
MIT Athena and
Department
Computers
MIT Recycling
Initiatives
New Environmental
Solutions to Close Life
Cycle Loops
Life Cycle of Computers
Computer
Creation
_
_
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 Water
Outputs:
 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
Potential
Waste.
 By 2000: 75,000
tons of Computer
Waste (MA)
Photo courtesy of Recycling Council of Ontario
Sources: http://www.informinc.org/cwp2fscomputer.htm and
http://www1.cnn.com/2000/TECH/computing/04/03/disposal.ban.idg/index.html

Sources: http://www.informinc.org/cwp2fscomputer.htm,
http://www1.cnn.com/2000/fyi/news/12/11/computer.recycling/
400
300
200
100
Year
06
20
04
20
20
02
0
00
75 % of Computers are
Saved
Hidden Liabilities
500
20

600
98
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
19
 By 2004: 315 million
Obsolete Computers (Millions)
Looking Ahead
Agenda
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Computer Composition
and Waste
MIT Student Computer
Use Patterns
MIT Athena and
Department
Computers
MIT Recycling
Initiatives
New Environmental
Solutions to Close Life
Cycle Loops
Computer
Creation
Computer
Use
_
Do you Leave Your Computer
On Even When You are Not
Using It?
Problem: Energy Use
Yes
No
Sometimes
79% Leave Computer On
17% Turn Computer Off
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?
Use of Alternatives
80
70
60
50
Percent 40
30
20
10
0
Yes
No
Action
Some People Willing to Try Alternatives
What do you plan to do with your
computer when it becomes obsolete?
Percent of
Respondents
End of Computer Life
50
40
30
20
10
0
Dispose
Save It
Recycle
Action
Other
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.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Computer Composition
and Waste
MIT Student Computer
Use Patterns
MIT Athena and
Department
Computers
MIT Recycling
Initiatives
New Environmental
Solutions to Close Life
Cycle Loops
Computer
Creation
Computer
Use
_
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.
2.
3.
Recycle
Donate
Reuse
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




Source: 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.
Agenda
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
Computer Composition
and Waste
MIT Student Computer
Use Patterns
MIT Athena and
Department
Computers
MIT Recycling
Initiatives
New Environmental
Solutions to Close Life
Cycle Loops
Computer
Creation
Computer
Recycled
Computer
Use
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