Features

Why worry about materials? For the simple reason that a surprising number of chemicals used in the production of PCs are toxic and, while this is unlikely to affect you individually, it will affect those who have to recycle or dispose of systems, and the environment surrounding any systems that are dumped, incinerated or sent to landfill. Flame-retardant materials used in some PC cases or components can leach bromine or chlorine into the waste stream, causing reproductive damage in fish-eating mammals, and when burnt give off fumes that can damage the human immune and reproductive systems. Lead, cadmium and mercury damage the human nervous system and are toxic in high doses, while PVC, found in cables and casings, acts as another source of organic-bound chlorine.

Some manufacturers have been taking this seriously for a while - HP removed the most dangerous BFRs from its products nearly ten years ago. However, the introduction of the European Removal of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive in July 2006 has made it an issue for all, banning lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium and two types of BFRs from all electronic products, albeit with some exemptions. However, many would argue that RoHS doesn't go far enough. First, there are too many exemptions, and second, it doesn't cover all the materials it could. "Greenpeace wants PC makers to substitute all harmful substances (based on the precautionary principle) and replace them with safer alternatives," argued Iza Kruszewska. "As a start, Greenpeace expects responsible companies to

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set timelines for substituting PVC and BFRs." Manufacturers including Acer, Dell, Lenovo, LG Electronics and Samsung have done so, setting targets of between 2009 and 2011.

Of course, it isn't easy. Companies can maintain lists of harmful chemicals and stipulate that their suppliers avoid them, but with so many suppliers providing so many components for even a single PC line, ensuring these goals are met is a difficult job. "It's practically impossible to ensure you check every single component in a product," said HP's Bruno Zago. "To check for DecaBDEs [a specific BFR] you have to practically test the product to destruction." Like most major manufacturers, HP batch-tests products and pushes suppliers to sign a "General Specification for the Environment" that covers these issues, but this didn't prevent a fan containing a DecaBDE from slipping into a Pavillion dv4000 laptop - a fact embarrassingly uncovered by a Greenpeace report last September. "Almost immediately we stopped sourcing that fan," Zago commented, noting that "we will catch an error at some point, but we might not catch that error right at the outset."

Moreover, some exemptions are there for a reason. In the case of lead in solder, for example, it's still allowed in large, mission-critical servers for the reason that it's a tried-and-trusted technology, and that lead-free alternatives can suffer from technical issues that could, theoretically, cause a critical failure. Even this exemption is subject to review in 2010 and, if an alternative is established, may be dropped by 2012. "As an industry, we'd have to work very, very hard to prove to the commission that we haven't found an alternative," claimed Bruno Zago. PVC, meanwhile, still gets used for the reason that it makes PC cables malleable, and less susceptible to "cracking", which might leave live connections exposed.

Buying energy-efficient equipment

So you've established the manufacturer is doing its bit for the environment; now it's time to do yours. Selecting energy-efficient equipment doesn't just decrease your "carbon footprint" - it can save you money long term.