09 March 2007

It ain't easy being green


Although it is just about to get easier.

I am all for avoiding waste by maximizing the lifespan of your tech gear, especially through repair and reuse, so it is timely that a report (caution: PDF link!) from the trial of open source software in government has concluded that:

A typical hardware refresh period for Microsoft Windows is 3-4 years. A major UK manufacturing organisation quotes its hardware refresh period for Linux systems as 6-8 years.


A world in which people upgrade their computers once every 8 years? Now that would be amazing and great for the landfills of the world.

What would really be great is if the hardware itself was ecofriendly and recyclable. There are loads of personal casemods using biodegradeable components, and there are a number of companies looking at different materials. Asus have recently created a laptop shell made from bamboo which actually looks beautiful. Being environmentally friendly is a definite consideration for future tech purchases.

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