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The Relationship Between Manufacturers and Consumers in
Achieving Sustainable Consumption
Simon Ford
14th July 2003
14th July 2003 The Relationship Between Manufacturers and Consumers in Achieving Sustainable Consumption
Page 2
An explanation of the objectives of the dissertation.
An overview of the computer industry. Findings from an online questionnaire. Opportunities for improved consumption
practices in the future.
This Presentation Will Include:
14th July 2003 The Relationship Between Manufacturers and Consumers in Achieving Sustainable Consumption
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Sustainable Consumption:the Goal
“The use of goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimising the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle, so as not to jeopardise the needs of future generations”
Oslo 1994
14th July 2003 The Relationship Between Manufacturers and Consumers in Achieving Sustainable Consumption
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Objectives of this Dissertation
To discover what opportunities exist that might cause the computing sector to become less unsustainable.
To determine what benefits the computer can provide to society, the environment and the economy.
To discover what lessons might be learnt that apply to other industries.
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Consumer Questionnaire
An online questionnaire has been run on my webpages for the past 6 weeks.Reference will be made to the findings from this survey of almost 400 computer users.
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Innovation in the Personal Computing Industry
The two key developments were the modularisation and commoditisation of the IBM architecture.
Separate modules include the motherboard, CPU, memory, hard drive, data storage devices, multimedia cards, and the operating system.
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The Processor at theHeart of the Modern PC
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The Nature of the Industry
High levels of competition lead to rapid innovation.
Manufacturers, particularly semiconductor producers, have caused significant environmental degradation.
Innovation in a rapid market leads to technical obsolescence.
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Perceived Environmental Friendliness of the Computer Industry
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Veryunfriendly
Slightlyunfriendly
Neutral Slightlyfriendly
Veryfriendly
Don't know
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Perceived Environmental Friendliness of Computer Use
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Veryunfriendly
Slightlyunfriendly
Neutral Slightlyfriendly
Veryfriendly
Don't know
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A Lack of Environmental Purchasing Behaviour
Only 4.3% of people said that they had made environmentally conscious decisions when purchasing their PC.
Why not a greater percentage?Is it a lack of labelling?
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Energy Star - 57% recognition
57%
4%
4%
2%
33%
Low energy useLow radiationCarbon neutralOzone friendlyDon't know
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Comparison to Food Labelling
1999 Glasgow food survey - an area with high incidence of heart disease.
Readership of food labels11%
19%
22%
48%
AlwaysFrequentlyOccasionallyNever
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Daily Computer UsageAverage of 6.5 hours dormancy
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
35.0
0 - 2 hours 2 - 4 hours 4 - 6 hours 6 - 12 hours 12 - 24 hours Continuouslyon
Time onTime in use
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Computer Usage
34% of computer users didn’t have their power management settings activated.
These can reduce power consumption from 200W to under 100W.
These people would save an average of 240kWh/capita/year if activated, a £20 saving.
Hence a need for PCs to be set up with settings activated prior to retail.
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“Are You Doing Your Bit?”1999 Educational Campaign
Outcomes demonstrated that behavioural changes were possible, but limited.
Provision of information leads to questioning of lifestyle choices.
Socially contentious and highly-debated issues lead to no change in behaviour.
Non-controversial and non-debated actions entered into people’s habits and routines.
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Perception of PC’s AidingWork Effectiveness
63%
19%
10%
5% 2% 1%
Strongly agreeSlightly agreeNeutralSlightly disagreeStrongly disagreeDon't know
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A Teleworking Future?
29%
41%
14%
9%
3% 4%
Strongly agreeSlightly agreeNeutralSlightly disagreeStrongly disagreeDon't know
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Teleworking Willingness:45 billion car miles could be saved!
%
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
Every day 3 - 4 dayseach week
1 - 2 dayseach week
A few dayseach month
Not at all Don't know
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End of Life: PC Disposal
28%
25%
22%
4%
7%
14%
Give awayReuseSellRecycleThrow awayDon't know
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Technical Obsolescence
Manufacturers stimulate consumer demand for their new innovations through marketing mechanisms. This leads to technical obsolescence
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PC Applications%
0.0
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
70.0
80.0
90.0
100.0
Wordprocessing
Spreadsheets Graphics Programming Internet Email Instantmessaging
Music Movies Games
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Most Important PC Applications%
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Wordprocessing
Spreadsheets Graphics Programming Internet Email Instantmessaging
Music Movies Games
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The Dinosaurs Control the Market
“The entire industry is trapped by its own success, trapped into a cycle of ever-increasing complexity from which it cannot escape”
D.A.Norman The Invisible Computer
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The Missing 55%
The computing industry is failing to deliver products that can reach out to the “late adopters”. If computers are going to aid the push towards a more sustainable society then the development of human-centred systems is necessary.
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An Entrepreneurial Opportunity?
New business models are required to reach out to the non-computer user.
A lower specification computer dedicated to word processing, email and internet access.
Thin client technology. Application Service Provision (ASP).
Economic reasons for adopting new technologies that approach improved sustainability “accidentally”.
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Some Market Recognition
“Five years from now, if you’re a CEO with a head for business, you won’t be buying computers any more. You won’t be buying software either. You’ll rent all your resources from a service provider”Scott McNealy,
CEO Sun Microsystems, December 1999
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Summary
Consumer understanding of the unsustainability of the computer industry isn’t being translated into eco-decisions.
PC’s need to have their power management features activated when sold.
Teleworking is currently seen in a positive light by many computer users.
Technology is not meeting the needs of a significant proportion of the population.
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Future Work
Questionnaire for IT professionals currently online.
Further investigation into how technical obsolescence might be reduced, and preferentially, avoided.
Analysis of how manufacturer’s market their technologies to consumers.
Future legislation that will affect system and component disposal.
