Matters of Scale - Pointless PC Pollution
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| Number of office personal computers in use in the United States (2007 est.) | 104 million |
| Estimated maximum share left on overnight (percent) | 60 |
| Resulting quantity of CO2 emitted per year by electric power plants (tons) | 14.4 million |
| Number of automobiles it takes to emit the same amount of CO2 | 2.5 million |
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| Total number of personal computers in use in the United States (2005 est.) | 231 million |
| Estimated quantity of CO2 emitted per year if 60 percent are left on overnight (tons) | 32 million |
| Equivalent number of automobiles | 5.6 million |
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| Total number of personal computers in the world (2005 est.) | 906 million |
| Estimated quantity of CO2 emitted per year if 60 percent are left on overnight (tons) | 125 million |
| Equivalent number of automobiles | 21.8 million |
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| Forecast number of personal computers in the world in 2015 | 2 billion |
| Resulting quantity of CO2 emitted per year if 60 percent are left on overnight (tons) | 277 million |
| Equivalent number of automobiles | 48.1 million |
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SOURCES: Office PCs, share left on, CO2 emitted, equivalent number of autos: 1E & Harris Interactive. Rest: World Watch estimates based on data from Computer Industry Almanac (total PCs) and Forrester Research (forcast PCs worldwide). Purchase a PDF of the entire January/February issue of World Watch, or subscribe or renew to World Watch Magazine. Current subscribers, log in and download this issue, and past issues of World Watch. | |
