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"I don't care, we're all going to die anyway," says
17-year-old Christian, to laughs from his friends as they play video
games at the CeBIT IT fair in Germany.
What he does not care about is the environmental
impact of the games console he and his mates are playing in a giant
exhibition hall crammed full of other teenagers playing the latest
shoot-em-ups, driving games and the like.
Whereas many of the 5,500 exhibitors at CeBIT in
Hanover, Germany like IBM and Deutsche Telekom have been at pains to
trumpet their green credentials, in Hall 22 there is not a
tree-hugger in sight.
Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer
travelled to the fair to tell people what the world's largest
software company was doing its bit for the environment -- but the
company's Xbox games console was not mentioned once in this context.
Indeed a Microsoft Xbox spokesman in Hanover
conceded he had never been asked about the environmental impact of
the 18 million Xbox 360s sold so far, preferring instead to forward
AFP's questions to headquarters.
Worldwide computer use requires 14 power
stations for the necessary electricity, producing more harmful
carbon dioxide emissions than the entire airline industry -- not
including the emissions created and manufacturing and shipping
around the products in the first place.
And games consoles -- of which 62 million were
sold in last year -- are the gas guzzlers of this industry, using
huge amounts of energy to generate the necessary mindblowing
graphics and sounds.
When played online, they are linked up to huge
server farms which use even more energy.
And with each generation of console -- we are
currently on the seventh -- repeatedly made obsolete by the newest
technology, millions of machines, games and other accessories are
thrown away, destined often for the developing world.
This has not escaped the notice of Greenpeace,
which was taking part in CeBIT for the first time, vowing to sort
the "greenwash" from the genuine amid all the talk of
green IT.
The environmental pressure group issued results
of a survey comparing the green credentials of 37 products from 14
major brands, showing modest improvements regarding hazardous
substances, energy efficiency and recyclability.
But Nintendo provided no data for the
investigation on its Wii console, Micosoft said they had no
information, and Sony's details on the PlayStation were "very
late and very insufficient," Greenpeace campaigner Zeina
Al-Hajj said.
Greenpeace suspects this speaks volumes.
"The industry has not looked at all at the
environmental impact of the games console. The amount of energy they
consume, especially the XBox and the PlayStation, is massive. There
is no evidence that they are acting," Al-Hajj said.
Greenpeace concedes that some improvements have
been made, particularly by Nintendo with its Wii in terms of energy
consumption and recyclability, but it says much more needs to be
done.
"If you can do it in a Wii, why not with a
Sony?" Al-Hajj says.
And a spokesman for IBM, which supplies powerful
microchips for the Xbox, the Wii and the PlayStation, while keen to
talk about the firm's efforts to be greener in its other businesses,
does not want to talk about games consoles.
"You would have to ask them," meaning
the games consoles makers, IBM spokesman Joerg Winkelmann says. He
adds however that processess for making the chips have improved.
Microsoft headquarters did not reply. Nor did
AMD, whose processors are also found in many consoles.
Gamers in CeBIT Hall 22 meanwhile carried on
playing.
"This doesn't stop me gaming at all. The
fun factor is very high and you think first about the fun factor of
the games," says Sebastian, a 22-year-old soldier and gaming
fanatic.
"Most people who play games don't really
think at all of the environment, they think about the fun
factor," he says.
Seventeen-year-old Geld from the Netherlands
shrugs as the sound of music in the windowless hall pumps louder and
louder.
"A washing machine uses more energy than a
computer," he says, turning to get on with his game, fingers
working madly on the buttons.
CeBIT runs to Sunday.
-- AFP
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