The Advent of “Green” Computer Design

Some fundamental changes are beginning to take place in the computer industry. These changes are not about MIPS or megabytes. They are about manufacturers in the computer industry beginning to look for ways to reduce the resources they consume and the waste they generate, and the ways to make their

Study help Digrammes have the potential to capture a lot of information on a single page. They help to show the conceptual links between ideas and allows to add additional material without the need to crowd the page. While drawing diagrammes - use lines, colours, branches, arrows or some other ways of showing connections between ideas; - leave lots of space to highlight things, add information or add questions and words; - write down key ideas in capitals as they are easier to read in a diagramme and explanatory notes in lower case.

products more recyclable. This process is known as “green” computer design.

One factor driving green design is the fact that computer manufacturing and consumption is growing rapidly and is becoming a significant cause for environmental concern.

Green computer design addresses a number of primary issues: reducing the

resources consumed and the waste generated when producing computers or components; developing cleaner manufacturing processes; minimizing the energy and other resources that computers consume and enabling computers and components to be used (and thereby stay out of the waste steam) longer.

The computer industry must overcome a variety of economic, technical, and

organizational difficulties before green design can become commonplace.

Manufacturers will have to spend time and money to retrain designers, engineers, and assembly workers to perform environmentally friendly computer design and manufacturing. However, the influence can be made less serious because computer companies generally provide employees with regular retraining anyway to keep up with other new design and manufacturing practices.

One of the most promising “green” techniques, de-manufacturing, currently

faces a variety of problems that make it impractical on a large scale in many cases. For example, the cost of labor required to disassemble, sort, and transport recovered components can be much higher than the price of simply purchasing new components. Researchers are looking for ways to overcome this problem.

(Abridged and adapted from Business Xpansion Journal – December 2000; “Recycling old computers?”, R. Duran)

Get real

Search home pages of the leading computer companies and environment websites to get more information on possible solutions to e-waste problem. Report back to the class and discuss what you found.

Writing

You are planning to buy a new computer but don’t know what to do with the old one. Write an e-mail message to one of the electronic equipment manufacturers asking for information on company’s takeback policies.

From: To: Subject: Old computer treatment

Dear Sir/Madam, I am mailing this via the “Contact Us” link on your website to (1) ………………… ….………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………... . I bought my old PC (2) ………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………. ……………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………... . Could you give me some more information about (3)………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………... . …………………………………………………………………………………………... . I hope you will help me in this matter. I look forward to hearing from you soon. Yours faithfully, (4)……………………

1. explain the purpose of your e-mail

2. provide basic information on your PC and its components, when and where you bought it, decide whether they are still working or not

3. ask for information on the items the company takes back, delivery, package and prices

4. express your gratitude for the help

In the Realm of Science

1. Consult a dictionary to check the pronunciation and the meaning of the words below. Which of them are the chemical elements? Which are the compounds? Write down the symbols for the elements/formulas for the compounds.

nitric acid

nitrogen oxide

cadmium

calsium

dioxide

hydrochloric acid

mercury

hydrocarbons

phosphine

sulphur

carbon dioxide

2. Work in pairs. Take turns to read and note down the following elements and compounds:

Si N P C Cd Al

S H O Na Li Zn

3. Read the song “The Elements” by Tom Lehrer.

(Listen to it at http://school.discovery.com/lessonplans/activities/sciencehits/)

There’s antimony, arsenic, aluminum, selenium,

And hydrogen and oxygen and nitrogen and rhenium

And nickel, neodymium, neptunium, germanium,

And iron, americium, ruthenium, uranium,

Europium, zirconium, lutetium, vanadium

And lanthanum and osmium and astatine and radium

And gold, protactinium and indium and gallium

And iodine and thorium and thulium and thallium.

There’s yttrium, ytterbium, actinium, rubidium

And boron, gadolinium, niobium, iridium

And strontium and silicon and silver and samarium,

And bismuth, bromine, lithium, beryllium and barium.

There’s holmium and helium and hafnium and erbium

And phosphorous and francium and fluorine and terbium

And manganese and mercury, molybdinum, magnesium,

Dysprosium and scandium and cerium and cesium

And lead, praseodymium, platinum, plutonium,

Palladium, promethium, potassium, polonium,

Tantalum, technetium, titanium, tellurium,

And cadmium and calcium and chromium and curium.

There’s sulfur, californium and fermium, berkelium

And also mendelevium, einsteinium and nobelium

And argon, krypton, neon, radon, xenon, zinc and rhodium

And chlorine, cobalt, carbon, copper,

Tungsten, tin and sodium.

These are the only ones of which the news has come to Harvard,

And there may be many others but they haven’t been discovered.

Unit 2 Progress Monitoring In this unit you have worked on the following vocabulary related to influence of electronic equipment on the environment environmental hazards to consume energy landfill sites to release poisonous gases incineration to encourage/to urge e-recycling disposal of electronic equipment liquid to produce/to generate e-waste to reduce/to limit computer dumping to donate/to reuse electronic equipment to refurbish/to restore/to repair e-devices environmentally friendly/safe to recycle e-waste to use up natural resources Tick (V) the points you are confident about and cross (X) the ones you need to revise.

Unit 3 Review

1. Join the sentences in two ways, with or without which/that.

   1. A lot of rubbish is floating in the sea. It is a real danger to health.

   2. The problem of soil erosion is discussed in this chapter. It has occurred ever

since the man began destroy forests.

3. Nuclear energy comes from the energy stored within the nuclei of atoms.

They are the basic building blocks of all matter.

4. The best things in life such as water and air are free. We often take it for

granted.

5. The manufacture of one PC requires 28kg of liquid chemicals. All liquid

chemicals have to be neutralized by a further 11 kg of sodium hydroxide.

6. An average PC consumes 100 watts of electricity when switched on but not

in use. 100 watts of electricity is equivalent to a bright light bulb.

7. New machines use no more than 30 watts. They are given the Energy Star

Logo.

8. In 1993 the USA introduced the Energy Star Logo. The ESL eliminated the

need to build 10 extra power stations.

9. In the USA computers use 5 % of commercial power. By 2010 the use of

commercial power by computers could rise to 15 %, or 100 billion kilowatt-hours per year.

10. Some factories had developed manufacturing processes. This processes

considerably cut the amount of wastes produced.

2. Complete the sentences using the most suitable adverb from the box. Some of them can be used more than once.

unusually confidently absolutely highly badly quickly well safely

a) I can’t think ……… when I’m in a hurry or upset about something.

b) This year spring is going to be……… hot in this region.

c) These are ………reliable statistics on industrial waste for the last five years.

d) I wanted to increase the pressure in the apparatus but I wasn’t sure if I could

do it ……….

e) Though I was very nervous I tried to speak ……….

7. This ……… operating machine for producing hamburgers is a real wander!

8. The holiday trip was not ……… organized so we got ……… disappointed.

9. What we need is a ……… equipped laboratory and ……… enthusiastic specialists.

10. Nick feels so homesick, he ……… misses his parent and friends

3. Explain the difference between these pairs:

• litter - waste

• demanufacture - dismantle

• break down - dismantle

• refurbish - repair

• recycle - process

• effect - affect

• chemical element - chemical compound

4. Do the crossword to write the word in bold.

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1. the reduction of the layer of natural gases around the earth that protects people,

animals, etc. from dangerous ultraviolet radiation

2. the reduction of the territory that a plant or animal lives and grows best in,

usually caused by changes in natural conditions

3. a process when different kinds of animals and plants which make a balanced

environment disappear

4. floods, volcanic eruptions and hurricanes, etc. that may kill a lot of people or

cause a lot of damage

5. a result of atmospheric contamination when industrial gases and chemicals mix

with water in the air

6. harmful chemicals and gases from factories, machines, traffic fumes that enter

the air to make it dirty

7. a general increase in the temperature of the world caused by harmful chemicals

and gases from cars, factories etc entering the air

8. harmful chemicals, waste materials from factories, houses etc that enter the land

and kill or damage the things that live or grow there

9. gases from factories, machines, traffic fumes etc that form a layer around the

earth and keep the heat it

10. devices and/or their components that are no longer useful

11. a process when too many trees are cut down in an area, so that the environment

is badly damaged

5. Comment on the following sayings

• “The nation that destroys its soil destroys itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt

• “There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed.” Mohandas K. Gandhi

• “There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all.” Robert Orben

• “Modern technology owes ecology an apology.” Alan M. Eddison

• “Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.” William Ruckelshaus

• “We never know the worth of water till the well is dry.” Thomas Fuller, Gnomologia, 1732

• “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.” Native American Proverb

• “There are no passengers on Spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” Marshall McLuhan, 1964

• “If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.” Jacques Barzun, The House of Intellect, 1959

• “We cannot command Nature except by obeying her.” Francis Bacon

• “The activist is not the man who says the river is dirty. The activist is the man who cleans up the river.” Ross Perot

• “The universe is not required to be in perfect harmony with human ambition.” Carl Sagan

• “Nature cannot be tricked or cheated. She will give up to you the object of your struggles only after you have paid her price.” Napoleon Hill

• “The more we get out of the world the less we leave, and in the long run we shall have to pay our debts at a time that may be very inconvenient for our

own survival” Norbert Wiener

Each one teach one

Write down a short vocabulary list (10 items) on the topic “Environment” and compare your lists with the partner. Cross out the items you have on both lists and explain the meaning of the rest of the words and phrases.

Writing

Work with a partner. Look at the pictures and discuss the environmental problems they illustrate. Write a paragraph of about 150 words to describe the picture you have chosen.

Project work

All of you are at the meeting which is held to discuss the most urgent environmental problems in your city. Each student will play one of the roles described below. Read the situation and the role descriptions and decide who will play each role. Divide into 5 groups (group A – environmentalists, B – bank representatives, C – city residents, D – city council members, E – project managers). Prepare for ten minutes before you begin the interview. Make use of the functional language in the box.

The situation

The World Bank has decided to fund the “Eco-friendly city” programme. As the representatives of different local organizations and community you have to discuss the most urgent environmental problems in your city, the ways to solve them and to work out projects that will allow to cope with the most urgent problems in your neighborhood. As a result the World Bank will choose the most attractive project.

Functional language Giving an opinion In my opinion … If you want my opinion … Agreeing I agree (with …) I think … is right. That’s exactly what I feel. Disagreeing I’m afraid I don’t agree (with …) I don’t think you are right. Yes, but listen … That’s nonsense! Interrupting to make a point Forgive me for interrupting but … Can I say something? Can I make a point? Summarizing Can we agree then that … Shall we say then that … Well, it seems that the best solution is to …

Roles: project manager

You live in this city and work in the national branch of the World Bank. The Board of trustees appointed you to be the person in charge for the successful realization of the eco-programme in your city. You introduce the programme of the World Bank, briefly describe the situation and conduct the meeting.

Roles: environmentalists

You are a member of the local Green Peace organization. You are concerned with the high level of industrial waste and soil and water contamination in your city. Present your project and suggest the ways for its realization.

Roles: city residents

You are worried about the shrinking of green spaces and increasing of air pollution in your city. Present your project and suggest ways and terms of its realization.

Roles: the city council member

The city council is concerned with the poor quality treatment of sewage waters. Present your project and suggest ways and terms of its realization.

Roles: The World Bank representative

You are responsible for choosing the most attractive project and appropriate use of money.