From Ecopedia

Overview

Laptop computers are small, notebook-shaped, lightweight and portable personal computers, integrating most of the desktop components such as keyboard, display, touchpad, speakers and rechargeable batteries among many others.^[1]Modern-day laptop computers are typically equipped with rechargeable lithium-ion batteries, which utilize the advanced lithium polymer technology that shows far superior and environment-friendly capabilities compared to the older versions that use nickel metal-hydride batteries.

The lithium-ion batteries are rechargeable through an AC adapter and generally store enough energy for running the laptops for at least 3-6 hours, depending on the laptop’s configuration as well as power management. Modern Laptops and Tablet Computers such as the Apple Ipad claim to have up to 10 hours of battery life.

Environmental Information

High Power Efficiency

Compared to desktop computers, laptops show high power-efficiency with typical power usage of 20-90 W as against 100-800 W power usage by the desktops. Such superior power efficiency of the laptops is found to be beneficial to the environment, in general.

Some major environmental benefits of laptops include low noise pollution, as laptops are much quieter due to the presence of quieter and slower hard drives (2.5-inches). Quieter hard drive components lead to less production of heat, thus, requiring slower and fewer cooling fans. ^[2]

However, negative effects of the laptops far outweigh the environmental advantages of laptops. Laptop production, operation and disposal are proven to cause a lot of environmental hazards such as atmospheric pollution, climate change and global warming among many others.

Environmentally-harmful Production Processes

Laptop production processes impact the global environment in many ways. Most significantly, lap top production requires considerable amounts of energy, eventually leading to dire impacts on the environment.

Most of the laptop production relies on the fossil fuel energy, which is a known cause for climate change and global warming witnessed across the world today. Besides, lap top manufacturing being extremely energy intensive, leads to fast depletion of naturally-occurring fossil fuel resources.

Microchip fabrication during lap top manufacturing, especially leads to harmful exposure to chemicals and toxic emissions, causing great damage to the environmental health of neighboring communities.

Harmful Chemicals in Laptop Components

Many laptop computer components contain hazardous chemicals, which pose a potential risk to the environment.

Laptop components such as display screens and keyboards contain large quantities of heavy metals including lead, cadmium, chromium and mercury, which are proven to cause serious environmental hazards such as water contamination, when discarded and dumped in landfills after use and expiry. ^[3]

E-waste

Obsolete and used laptop computers eventually add to the e-waste, which gets dumped in environmentally-unsafe landfill sites. The metallic parts of the computers especially contain numerous toxic chemicals such as lead and mercury, which are considered to be chief contributors to the chemical pollution of the environment.

Several environmental studies concluded that improper e-waste disposal would inevitably lead to water, air and soil contamination. ^[4]

Popular Laptop Brands and Contamination

Many of the popular laptop brands in the digital market are found to be produced using some of the most-toxic chemicals. Best-known computer brands such as Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Acer, Sony and Dell are found to contain some of the most-harmful chemicals including polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC), lead and brominated flame retardants (BFR), which are potential environmental contaminants. However, Apple has shown strides to reduce their environmental impact by implementing electronics recycling programs and reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases during their production process. ^[5]

Green Laptops

In order to check the growing amount of e-waste leading to dire environmental consequences, many environment-conscious laptop manufacturers are introducing environment-friendly laptops into the electronic market.

The XO by One Laptop per Child (OLPC) is one such environment-friendly laptop. OLPC laptops are considered to most eco-friendly devices available in the market. OLPC received rare recognition (“Gold award”) from EPEAT organization, which is involved in assessing environmental impacts of various laptop computers as per the IEEE 1680-2006 specifications.

OLPC devices are non-toxic, consume less electricity (average idle power consumption is only 1 watt) and completely recyclable. ^[6]

Bamboo laptops also incorporate green technology. Unlike non-biodegradable plastics, bamboos are highly biodegradable and support sustainable cultivation. ^[7]

References

1. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop
2. ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laptop
3. ↑ http://update.unu.edu/archive/issue31_5.htm
4. ↑ http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/environmental-hazards-of-electronic-4505.html
5. ↑ http://www.alternet.org/environment/42223
6. ↑ Ref: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Environmental_Impact
7. ↑ http://www.ecoshopper.net/2008/eco-gadgets/green-computers-accessories/bamboo-laptops-benefit-the-environment/