Computers and gadgets a major source of greenhouse gas

THE millions of computers and gadgets Australians use for business and entertainment are contributing heavily to the nation's greenhouse tally, a report shows.
The report, commissioned by the Australian Computer Society and said to be the first of its kind, finds that IT equipment last year consumed 7 per cent of the country's electricity output and contributed 2.7 per cent of its carbon emissions.

Producing about 14.4 megatonnes of carbon dioxide last year, IT equipment had an emissions footprint on the scale of the large greenhouse polluters.

IT equipment emissions were 18.2 per cent of the size of transport (79Mt) and 53.2 per cent of industrial production (27Mt).

"By any estimation, (the IT sector's) energy consumption and carbon emissions are significant proportion of Australia's total," the reports authors wrote.
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