[Salty]

OK, so my paper is already a couple days late and I haven't started, I've been really good this semester at handing in papers on time. Problem is, I really don't care on this one. It's for a course called Environmental Science, and it's a joke class. Like, insanely easy but I find none of the material interesting at all. So I decided for the paper since we have a lot of leway, I'm going to write about how the IT industry continues to advance, and become more efficient etc.
Now if given some numbers, and stuff to cite I should be able to blather on for long enough to fill up the paper. But for however much time I've spent lurking the Power Mac forum I can't think of a good place to go to find numbers, or things specifically to write about.

So anyone got any suggestions?

[Doofy]

Don't forget to write about how the IT industry has infiltrated the domestic product marketplace and created negative environmental side effects.

For example: My neighbour recently asked if there was anywhere I knew to get his DVD player fixed. I had to tell him that it'd be cheaper to buy another than to get that one fixed.

So there you have it. What 25 years ago might have been a job for a skilled repairman and a few new transistors (or a new pinch roller) is now a case of throw it away (creating waste) and get another (creating manufacturing-based resource depletion).

The IT industry has a lot to answer for with regards to the creation of the throw-away society we currently live in.

[Railroader]

Good point Doofy.

[tooki]

Well, one could argue that the consumer is at "fault" by demanding cheap devices. The electronics industry has been supremely successful at driving down the cost of devices, to the point that the labor to repair one far exceeds the cost of a new, mass-produced unit.

For example, the reason that it's cheaper to buy a new VCR isn't that repairmen now cost 10x what they did in 1980; it's that what was a $1700 VCR in 1980 is now available for $39.95. A $200 repair job that made sense in 1986 is just not sensible now.

Furthermore, I'm not entirely sure that the "disposable gadgets" phenomenon is entirely as bad for the environment as it seems: look at how much more efficient modern gadgets are. A 1980 VCR weighed in at 20 pounds, easily, and had hundreds upon hundreds of parts, including dozens of discrete semiconductors, capacitors, resistors, etc. A modern model weighs 1/10 as much, and has 1/10 as many parts, thanks to integrated circuits that condense all the hundreds of parts into a couple of chips. So in terms of resources, buying two modern VCRs has still consumed far less resources than one old one. Why are modern electronics so efficient? Cuz it's cheap!

Note also that reduced parts counts increase reliability, all else held equal. Modern Chinese electronics are, frankly, not all that bad, for the most part. You'd be hard-pressed to find a big difference in quality between the $25 no-name DVD player and a $500 Denon. Both are likely to last for years and years.

Now, computers are different, because we get rid of them long before they wear out.

tooki

[Doofy]

Good point Tooki.

What I actually had in mind was a bit more subtle. Something like this:

CD-R size gets bigger (i.e. 74 mins -> 80 mins). Manufacturers stop producing 74 mins blanks in favour of 80 mins ones. All of your old perfectly-functional CD players become less use because their mechanisms can't play the 80 mins CDs (and you can't get the 74 min versions). So you're forced to throw them out and upgrade.

Let the computer industry into your domestic life and you're forced into a continual upgrade loop.

[Doofy]

And lets not even talk about SyQuest drives or Jaz disks.

[tooki]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Good point Tooki.

What I actually had in mind was a bit more subtle. Something like this:

CD-R size gets bigger (i.e. 74 mins -> 80 mins). Manufacturers stop producing 74 mins blanks in favour of 80 mins ones. All of your old perfectly-functional CD players become less use because their mechanisms can't play the 80 mins CDs (and you can't get the 74 min versions). So you're forced to throw them out and upgrade.

Let the computer industry into your domestic life and you're forced into a continual upgrade loop.

So you're really talking about forced obsolescence (though your example is a bad one, since 80-minute CDRs are compatible with essentially all CD players).

tooki

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by tooki 

So you're really talking about forced obsolescence

Basically, I'm talking about the whole caboodle - from subtle to obvious.

Originally Posted by tooki 

(though your example is a bad one, since 80-minute CDRs are compatible with essentially all CD players).

You need to tell my old CD players that. For some reason they're not aware of that fact.

[SSharon]

I for one attach too much sentimental value to my computers to just throw them out. My cell phone is 3 years old, my car 15 years old.
What about the environmental impact of the stuff produced for one day events? Think of all that rubber used for election day balloons.

[Railroader]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

And lets not even talk about SyQuest drives or Jaz disks.

I just threw away two unwrapped Zip discs today.

[ShortcutToMoncton]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

The IT industry has a lot to answer for with regards to the creation of the throw-away society we currently live in.

The electronics industry may be making the problem more obvious, but it has little or nothing to do with the "creation" of the consumer society we Westerners live in. That definitely comes first.

And, well, this essay sounds pretty much what I specialize in. But I've got two 3500-word essays on Canadian history, a scientific research poster, a short presentation on the transport of big American science to Germany and Russia in the early 20th century all due this week. And then 4000 words on that transfer due next week. So...I can't help you. That's what you get for disparaging my field.

greg

[tooki]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

You need to tell my old CD players that. For some reason they're not aware of that fact.

The problem is likely not the fact that the discs are 80-minute, but rather that modern discs use cheap dyes that old players can't see. 80-minute discs, while technically "out of spec" take advantage of the fact that that aspect of the CD specification is somewhat loose. Remember that they make >74:59 minute discs that are pressed, not burned, and they work fine.

I remember when CD-R first came out in grand style, and the discs used gold combined with dark blue dyes, giving the burned surface a brilliant emerald color. Now they use cheap silver that degrades, combined with pale dyes that just don't seem to work as well, especially in old readers/players. (For example, my 1998 blue and white G3's DVD-ROM drive can't read modern clear-dye CD-Rs. I have to dig into my stash of old azo dye discs when I burn discs that that computer must read.) The fact that they stopped making 60 and 74 minute CD-Rs is pure coincidence, the real problem is dye formulation.

This problem is even bigger in DVD-R, where it's already been impossible to buy compatible blank discs for DVD-R drives that were just a year old at the time.

tooki

[Salty]

Does anyone know of a place where I can find power usage specs on processors and hard drives?

[itai195]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

So there you have it. What 25 years ago might have been a job for a skilled repairman and a few new transistors (or a new pinch roller) is now a case of throw it away (creating waste) and get another (creating manufacturing-based resource depletion).

DVD players are recyclable.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by tooki 

The problem is likely not the fact that the discs are 80-minute, but rather that modern discs use cheap dyes that old players can't see.

Or perhaps that my old CD players conform to Red Book specs rather than the IT-industry derived Orange Book specs that modern ones conform to?