Curbing the CO2 that comes from PC use

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How large is your supportshed?: Much as currency decouples production from consumption, in effect acting as an abstraction layer between the endpoints of economic transaction, the genericness and transportability of electricity serves to decouple work performed by electrical and electronic technology from the production of the energy necessary to perform the work. Although it's good to ongoingly educate and reeducate ourselves that the presence of an abstraction layer does not absolve the consumer from responsibility for having driven production and its byproducts at the far opposite end of the supply chain, we must also ongoingly educate ourselves that end-user consumption drives energy use, pollution, and environmental exploitation *across* the entire chain, from endpoint to endpoint.

The cost (economic, environmental) of producing generic kilowatt-hours necessary to ongoingly run a computer after it has been produced and delivered is a small fraction of full cost of the energy, material, and creature resources involved in producing the computer and its constituents, marketing the box, transporting it to a user's desk, and maintaining its function. Only to the extent that we can perceive, understand, and manage *the full, end-to-end cost* of an appliance, including the its design, production, marketing, transport, and maintenance, will we be able to manage in any lastingly useful way the effect on our environment of its presence and use.

When you hear discussion of the concept of *foodshed*, you are hearing discussion by those awakening to this identical issue as it applies to the production and transport of foodstuffs to table. Perhaps we need a new term, *supportshed*, to enumerate the size and extent of the net involved in supporting the provision, viability, and growth of a function or set of functions of a given creature, group, or community. How large is, what is the extent in area, cost, and impact of, the supportshed required by your ability to type a note to your child's teacher on your computer and print it on the DeskJet?; Posted by: dpnewkirk Posted on: 09/15/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use