Environmental Impact of Technologies

Abstract

Technologies used within our environment are important aspect of our life; however, their environmental impacts are often not realized or considered. These impacts are expressed throughout the manufacturing, use and disposal of these products within our environmental premises and thus require monitoring and an understanding of each stage of technological life cycle. These technological accessories and machineries are located in our homes, offices, hospitals, schools (universities and colleges), laboratories, libraries, farms and every other place in our environmental premises, such technological accessories and machineries consumes various quantities of energy, but as a whole are not operating at optimal efficiency. The inefficient use and disposal of these technological by-products within our environment do not occur in the most environmentally sound manner possible, thus resulting in diverting unwanted places to landfills or storing them for extended periods of time. Both the inefficient use, manufacturing and disposal leads to generation and release of toxic compounds into the environment. Most organizations and industries begin their efforts to decrease technological waste and minimize their environmental impact by tackling small and focused problems. For example, there are chlorinated plastics in cable wiring, lead in cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, brominated flame retardants in computers, and mercury in LCD displays. This paper identified the needs for the implementation of environmental-wide green procurement strategies with respect to technology acquisition, use and disposal, as well as, offers recommendations regarding improvement of our environmental current systems.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n7p83