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The Environmental Cost of Silicon Chips

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the take-only-tantalum-leave-only-footprints dept.

Col. Panic writes "Scientific American is running a small story about the amount of material required to produce silicon chips and the potential hazards of associated toxic chemicals." This combined with coltan mining processes sure paints a dark picture of the chip industry.

15 of 201 comments (clear)

  1. How much energy does it take then... by delphi125 · · Score: 1, Funny
    manufacturing microchips requires approximately 160 times the amount of energy needed to make typical silicon

    ...to make sand?

    1. Re:How much energy does it take then... by e8johan · · Score: 0, Funny

      No, breasts! :)

  2. I refuse to use them. by acehole · · Score: 4, Funny

    In line with protecting the environment, I choose to use environmentally friendly products in my cpu, such as compost and renewable timber.

    Of course my computer doesnt work, but at least i'm helping the environment.

    --
    Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
  3. That's it! by empee · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm NEVER buying a CPU from DeBeers' ever again.

  4. save some for the fishies!!! by TOGA!+TOGA+TOGA! · · Score: 4, Funny

    a typical two-gram chip takes 1.6 kilograms of fossil fuel, 72 grams of chemicals and 32 kilograms of water Does anyone know if this 'water' is resuable? Is it just for cooling?

    1. Re:save some for the fishies!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      The water is used in coffee, Coke and other caffeinated drinks by the nerds who design the chips.

    2. Re:save some for the fishies!!! by KnightNavro · · Score: 2, Funny
      Back in chem lab, we had to note all the safety concerns as well (perhaps not in as much detail). When the lab didn't involve dangerous reagents, I still had to fill up the safety space, so I always fell back on a sage piece of chemistry advice:

      Don't eat the product.

  5. ROTF by dolo666 · · Score: 1, Funny

    Forget the silicon chips! What about the silicon left over from dead strippers?!

  6. Newsflash! by Noryungi · · Score: 5, Funny

    Complex chemical compounds can be harmful to your health and to the environment! (Wow!)

    And, in related news, Bill Gates is incredibly rich and Saddam Hussein may not be such a nice guy after all! (Amazing!)

    More information in our next news program... Film at 11.

    --
    The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
  7. Thankfully, I use an AMD K6-2-350 by Adam+Rightmann · · Score: 2, Funny

    which is manufactured in sweatshops in third world countries, like the Phillipines, from scrap wire, metal and plastic, so at least American doesn't get polluted.

    --
    A. Rightmann
  8. as if a geek's taken a breath of fresh air lately by colnago · · Score: 5, Funny
    a *real* geek doesn't get outside enough to care about the environment.


    Okay, it's not very funny. Don't laugh.

  9. Re:A clean room by mr_z_beeblebrox · · Score: 5, Funny

    But there won't be any environmentally safe process anytime in the near future.

    That's not hardly fair. We have a newly structured govt. in the US that is pushing hard for greener processes. They will cut taxes for big industry, relax emission standards etc...all so our children can have a greener environment to grow up in. Of course green is the color of more than grass.

  10. New Linux Add by Martigan80 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not only is it FREE, but it also prolongs the useful life of your CPU, unlike other OS's that require a system upgrade as well.

    --
    This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
  11. Re:Benefit too great by tigress · · Score: 2, Funny

    The benefit that the microprocessor has brought to human society far outweighs any environmental cost.

    What? Like, the digital watch?

  12. Re:The chemicals by giminy · · Score: 3, Funny

    . . I suddenly see a perfect plot for a comic book . . . intriguing . . .

    A superhero doped with arsenic, making him able to conduct electricity one way but not the other? What would you call him? The Human Diode?

    --
    The Right Reverend K. Reid Wightman,