I Foresee Terrible Trouble
Well, the Steely Dan song Dirty Work has nothing whatsoever to do with this subject, but that line from it seems appropriate anyway. The Telegraph is reporting that a British Computer store chain is planning on selling a "zero carbon" computer. It will be made of wood (and they already stole my joke that I thought of when I read the headline. It isn't an abacus.)
PC World is to produce a "zero carbon" computer made from wood and aluminium - and no, it's not an abacus.
The retailer will remove the PC's fans - which use up most of the power - and use an aluminium casing that has large ventilation slats that allow the heat to escape and uses fewer materials.
Computers are one of the most energy intensive machines in the household, costing about £40 in energy bills each year to run. PC World says its machine, which will retail at £599, will cut that bill to as little as £12.
The keyboard and screen will be encased in wood - either ash or beech. Most PCs are made from steel and reinforced plastic.
They plan on buying "carbon offsets" for the rest of the carbon footprint. Yeesh. This, of course, tends to ignore the energy (and materials) used to produce the computer components themselves and the energy used to produce the wooden components. I also have doubts about the fan-less case since heat is a real problem in modern computers. I have a P4 that goes from ambient temperature to 140° F as soon as it is turned on - literally. And it has fans. (And under a heavy graphics load, the temperature climbs very rapidly.) So if you have to replace the computer sooner because of heat-related failure, are you really saving the planet? If you want to sell it on aesthetics, that's one thing. But things like this smack of feel-good gestures rather than actual savings.
Then there's the terrible trouble part: What happens when the bugs your computer is experiencing are termites? Or powder post beetles? Inquiring minds want to know.
World news | Gaius Saturday, 16 June , 2007
By NortonPete, Saturday, 16 June , 2007 @ 1:56 pm
I love the termite angle, Computer bugs were originally bugs that shorted out ferrite coils.
This is a truly ridiculous marketing ploy to the computer savvy Gororcles.
One light bulb shut off would trounce a computer since they are already “green” and go into a quiescent state after being left alone.
Silly topic. But an excellent post, from a logical perspective.
By Purple Avenger, Saturday, 16 June , 2007 @ 3:54 pm
Morons.
Metal computer cases are made from scrapped Caddy Escalades. Wood is made from formerly living trees that would otherwise be eating CO2 and excreting O2.
By wheels, Monday, 18 June , 2007 @ 9:36 am
And will Robert Morris release an internet woodworm?