High-Tech Industry Heats Up Efforts to Lessen Climate Change

摘要

Computers and the networks they access daily come with an environmental cost-including increased energy consumption and an expanding carbon footprint measured in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions-that go beyond the impacts that occur throughout the supply chain. Is the use of computers and enterprise data centers at odds with corporate "green" priorities to reduce GHGs and energy consumption? Would our lives be lacking without access to e-mail, databases, and the Internet? The short answers are: No and Yes. This column considers the impact of personal computers and servers on climate change and a few of the high-tech innovations that can help reduce their environmental footprint.