There are some things to avoid, which might mitigate the problem somewhat:
- Surveillance/malware
- Smart TV
- Putting computers in everything even that don't need it
- Digital Rights/Restrictions Management
- Government spying on everyone's computer
- Too many fancy animations, etc in computer programs, especially web pages
- Planned obsolesence
- Bitcoin (it wastes a lot of energy too, I think, so I will not use it)
(Some of these are mentioned in the linked article, but not all. There are also other things I might not have mentioned, too. There are also other reasons to avoid the above (with the possible exception of bitcoin) other than energy requirement, too.)
There are also some new things to try, such as improving existing software to use less energy (that can be one benefit of FOSS), improving the compiler if it might compile program for less energy requirement (if the existing optimization options are not suitable), etc.
Also, you shouldn't need web browser for everything, there are other ptocols and file formats too which can be improve, too. Not only is user improvement, simpler to write, less annoying, and may also waste less energy hopefully, too.
If this is now including the carbon emissions of creating computing devices, is it including carbon emissions from the construction of planes and airports for the aviation industry/plane travel? My guess is no.
That said, the planned obsolesence of electronics is a real problem, and we should be working to make computing devices last longer and reduce waste. Unfortunately, currently companies are incentivized to do the opposite.
Also, it's straightforward to transition the energy used for computing to greener energy sources like solar and wind. Jet fuel however will be much more difficult to replace with a cleaner alternative.
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[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 29.0 ms ] thread- Surveillance/malware
- Smart TV
- Putting computers in everything even that don't need it
- Digital Rights/Restrictions Management
- Government spying on everyone's computer
- Too many fancy animations, etc in computer programs, especially web pages
- Planned obsolesence
- Bitcoin (it wastes a lot of energy too, I think, so I will not use it)
(Some of these are mentioned in the linked article, but not all. There are also other things I might not have mentioned, too. There are also other reasons to avoid the above (with the possible exception of bitcoin) other than energy requirement, too.)
There are also some new things to try, such as improving existing software to use less energy (that can be one benefit of FOSS), improving the compiler if it might compile program for less energy requirement (if the existing optimization options are not suitable), etc.
Also, you shouldn't need web browser for everything, there are other ptocols and file formats too which can be improve, too. Not only is user improvement, simpler to write, less annoying, and may also waste less energy hopefully, too.
That said, the planned obsolesence of electronics is a real problem, and we should be working to make computing devices last longer and reduce waste. Unfortunately, currently companies are incentivized to do the opposite.
Also, it's straightforward to transition the energy used for computing to greener energy sources like solar and wind. Jet fuel however will be much more difficult to replace with a cleaner alternative.