The A to Z of green IT

Mercury

No, not the closest planet to the Sun, mercury is one of the many chemical nasties eco-campaigners are trying to get banned from the manufacture of PC equipment.

Green IT from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more...

A is for Abroad
B is for Blades
C is for Carbon footprint
D is for Data centres
E is for Energy sources
F is for Freecycle
G is for Government
H is for Homeworking
I is for Ice caps
J is for Jobs (Steve)
K is for Kilowatts
L is for Landfill
M is for Mercury
N is for Nanogeneration
O is for Offsetting
P is for Paperless office
Q is for Queen
R is for Recycling
S is for SmartPlanet.com
T is for Travel
U is for Upgrade
V is for Virtualisation
W is for WEEE
X is for Xmas
Y is for You
Z is for Zero emissions

Last year eco-action group Greenpeace rated the major PC manufacturers on how well they dealt with the harmful chemicals - including bromine, cadium, chromium, lead, mercury, polybrominated flame retardants and PVCs - used in the production of their devices and looked at how seriously the companies took their responsibility for recycling products discarded by consumers.

Greenpeace has spent the last year hounding vendors and has had some success in getting them to change their PC production ways.

Along with using toxic chemicals, the manufacturing process for one PC requires around two tonnes of raw materials and generates around 25 tonnes of CO2, which is why less is more with the greening of IT.