Environmental Impact of the Ubiquitous Microchip

TimWeigel writes "The Japan Times is reporting the results of a study by the United Nations University on the environmental impact of michrochip production. We've already seen the impact of disposal practices, but is the manufacturing more environmentally friendly? Turns out it ain't necessarily so - according to the study, producing and using a 32MB DRAM chip weighing 2 grams requires 32 kg of water, 1.6 kg of fossil fuels, 700 g of elemental gases, and 72 g of other chemicals, many of which are hazardous. I'm no environmentalist, but this looks like it might add up to more bad news when you consider that these things are cranked out by the millions each year." Update: 01/26 16:31 GMT by J : Yep, it's a dupe.

Comments

Duplicate.

[TheFrood]

Hey, CmdrTaco, I found a site you might want to read sometime.

TheFrood

Re:Duplicate.

[eXtro]

CmdrTaco is too busy to read this site, slashdot, which you speak of. He and his co-workers are too busy providing the excellent editorial content which we have all become accustomed to. Do you have any idea how much work goes into editing submissions for grammatical and spelling errors? Could you even imagine what this site would look like without Rob's hard work in this area?

We can expect a few spelling mistakes or grammatical errors in the commentary section, however heads would roll if any were to make the front page. Not only that, but inflammatory, sensationalized or factually incorrect articles would be the norm otherwise. Perhaps even duplicate stories would grace the front page.

Why, it's these services which make a paid subscription to this site so worthwhile, and why if any of these problems ever make the front page I will immediately cancel my subscription.

Re:Duplicate.

[Threni]

I guess searching the last 30-odd days stories for keywords/links is a pretty tough piece of code to knock up. I know i'd find it hard.

Re:Duplicate.

[Anonymous Coward]

$results = select urls, description from past_articles where urls like '%new_urls%' and description like '%new_description%'

if($results > 0)
{ don't_post_goddamit(); }

Translate concept to perl and boom! You're set. I'll bet the idea doesn't scale, though.

It's a dupe

[adavidw]

Say what yoyu will about CmdrTaco, but at least he's consistent. Every story he posts is a duplicate!

-Aaron

Re:It's a dupe

[proverbialcow]

Every story he posts is a duplicate!

...dating all the way back to the first /. story, Earth formed in gaseous explosion (and CowboyNeal's not involved).
Okay, it's a cheap shot. Mod me down.

pcow

Not surprising.

[Big Mark]

a 32MB DRAM chip weighing 2 grams requires 32 kg of water, 1.6 kg of fossil fuels, 700 g of elemental gases, and 72 g of other chemicals, many of which are hazardous.

Your average male first-year college or university student weighing approximately 80Kg requires 2,423 gallons of beer, 75Kg of books, produces about 9,316 cubic feet of noxious gasses, and requires 5Kg of food a day, most of which is prepared in a hazardous manner.

-Mark

Re:Not surprising.

[KDan]

I reckon the chip is a better investment. We need a better ratio of female first-year college students anyway.

Chicks with Chips... hmm...

Daniel

Denis says...

[Joe the Lesser]

'Pollution is inherent in the system!'
'Pollution is inherent in the system!'

'Help! Help! I'm being contaminated!'

'You saw him contaminating me, didn't you?'

I don't understand....

[Anonymous Coward]

Are we all suppose to repost the same comments from the last time the article was posted or are we allowed to post new ones ? I wouldn't want to cause any sort of time continum problem...

Environmental impact of Slashdot

[worst_name_ever]

According to the EPA, advanced technologies designed for the elimination of duplicate stories could reduce the environmental impact of Slashdot by up to 50%. I urge you all to write your Congressional representatives and let them know of your concern on this issue.

Save the nitrogen!

[Anonymous Coward]

700 grams of nitrogen? But....the atmosphere is, like, 78% nitrogen or something. What happens if we use it all up? We'll have only 22% of the atmosphere left, and that's mostly oxygen, which is a lethally corrosive and highly flammable gas. We'll all die!

Ban DHMO!

[n1ywb]

OMG CHEMICALS NO! I HATE CHEMICALS! THOSE FUCKIN THINGS! THERE'S 700 CHEMICALS IN CIGARETTES! I HATE DHMO THE MOST! HERE IS MORE INFO ABOUT DHMO:

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

Should I be concerned about Dihydrogen Monoxide?
Yes, you should be concerned about DHMO! Although the U.S. Government and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) do not classify Dihydrogen Monoxide as a toxic or carcinogenic substance (as it does with better known chemicals such as hydrochloric acid and saccharine), DHMO is a constituent of many known toxic substances, diseases and disease-causing agents, environmental hazards and can even be lethal to humans in quantities as small as a thimbleful.

What are some of the dangers associated with DHMO?
Each year, Dihydrogen Monoxide is a known causative component in many thousands of deaths and is a major contributor to millions upon millions of dollars in damage to property and the environment.

BAN DHMO TODAY!
http://www.dhmo.org

Re:How does that song go?

[iggymanz]

you mean "dupe of URL".....

Nope...

[Peterus7]

As long as environmentalists are glued to their monitors, there will be no change.

So, what to do with all the spare parts then? I know, make cool high tech looking clothing! For example, I have an archaic ram chip as a pendant... (So that's where that weird rash-burnish thing is coming from...)

A day in the life of CmdrTaco

[EmagGeek]

So much for my Karma, but what the hell is it good for anymore?

7:55am, Alarm goes off, Snooze
8:04am, Alarm goes off, Snooze
repeat several dozen times
11:14am, Alarm goes off, crawl out of bed, hit the head
11:18am, load up wired.com, glance over headlines
11:19am, without having read any, copy and paste 3 or 4 of them over to /.
11:20am, back to bed
1:32pm, wake up, crawl out of bed again, eat cold pizza from the LAN party the night before
1:41pm, load up wired.com, glance over headlines
1:42pm, without having read any, and not remembering having done it before, copy and paste the same 3 or 4 articles to /.
1:49pm, read through hate-email from people complaining about dupes, and from paying subscribers who feel short-changed
2:24pm, meander to the "office" for the 1pm staff meeting
3:08pm, meet with editorial staff to discuss that afternoon's postings
4:11pm, CmdrTaco, timothy, and Hemos decide on 3 or 4 really good articles from wired.com that are worthy of the /. front page
4:55pm, after a long day at the office, calls it quits and heads home
5:15pm, arrives home after stopping by Starbucks, Ikea, the BMW dealer, and the natural food store
5:45pm, decides to check up on /. and contribute some material. Googles for articles and finds 3 or 4 really good articles in the google cache from wired.com, posts them
6:12pm, after having exhausted that day's supply of Mountain Dew and Pringles, decides to meet some friends at Outback for dinner.. brings laptop, of course
7:11pm, seated in the 802.11 section of Outback with michael, Hemos, and timothy, and his pseudo-quasi-girlfriend that he met on IRC, who, having just gotten her first driver's license, drove out from Raleigh in her parents' 1971 Pinto, without their permission
7:15pm, orders a Mountain Dew to drink
7:24pm, fires up laptop and the gang looks for good material for the front page. Collectively, they find 3 or 4 really good articles on wired.com to cut and paste. Decide to post an article from The Register just for the hell of it.
7:29pm, server asks if they're ready to order. The gang asks if they have Pizza - but settles for burgers and beer (At Outback)
7:57pm, after a few beers, decide to check up on their darling blogger and post some relevant "News for Nerds, stuff that matters"... they find some really good articles on SLASHDOT to post to the front page
8:11pm, finishing up gobbling down the burger, having gone through 38 pitchers of mountain dew and the equivalent of a case of Meister Brau, they head to CmdrTaco's apartment for that nights UT LAN party
8:21pm, pick up a case of Meister Brau, a case of Mountain Dew, and a case of Miller Light on the way home
8:46pm, arrive at CmdrTaco's place, decide first thing to check /. and post some cool articles found earlier in that day, after all, they don't remember posting since before dinnertime.
9:11pm, timothy, rip-roaring drunk, logs onto /. and after reading through for a couple of minutes, yells "What the hell is with all the dupes on /. today!??!! f'ing editors!"