Information on PC Equipment
Australia has experienced rapid growth in the use of information and communications technology (ICT), including
PC equipment (notebook computers, desktop computers, monitors and servers) and this growth is expected to continue. While the
use of PC equipment delivers substantial benefits, there are environmental implications associated with using
PC equipment. With the growth in use of PC equipment there has been a growth in awareness of the associated
environmental impacts, and greater consideration is being given as to how to better manage and reduce environmental
impacts associated with using PC equipment.
The following diagram illustrates how PC equipment impacts the environment at all stages of its life cycle. Click on each heading for more information.
Evaluating overall environmental performance
In order to evaluate PC equipment's overall environmental performance, its impact across all the environmental issues should be considered. This is difficult and complex as a product may perform well on some criteria, but not as well as on others, eg. a product may perform well in terms of energy usage and packaging but have higher levels of hazardous substances. In order to evaluate different products, one needs to decide which criteria are more important, e.g. energy use, hazardous material content, recycle-ability. This involves ascribing relative weightings to each of the environmental criteria and this is not always capable of 'scientific' measurement and therefore requires making value judgements, e.g. considering that it is more important to tackle energy usage than hazardous material content. Often the relative ranking of environmental priorities is influenced by the broader political and policy context, and procurement objectives, rather than 'environmental science'.
The DEH provides an 'Environmental Purchasing Checklist' which 'suggests environmental criteria for use by Australian Government departments and agencies when purchasing personal computers and monitors'. The checklist provides weightings for the environmental criteria. Note that these criteria do not specifically address hazardous substances, nor issues relating to disposal and end of life management, although product take back is mentioned. These are key issues that should be considered in procurement decisions, and included in the weightings.
A useful way to evaluate the overall environmental performance of PC equipment is to consider whether it qualifies for an eco-label.
International labels include, among others, The Swan (Nordic Ecolabel), Blue Angel (Germany), European Flower (European Union), TCO (Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees), Eco mark Program (Japan Environment Association).
Last updated February 2007
