Technology contributes to pollution and provides potential solutions:
- Contribution To Pollution: technology is a contributor to environmental pollution in several ways
- Solution For Pollution Problems: technology has already solved some major environmental problems and has the potential to solve many of our pollution challenges
This article will explain the main ways technology contributes to and helps solve environmental pollution.
Because pollution and technology are broad subjects, we will focus on these areas:
- Pollution – The most common and largest types of environmental pollution, such as emissions that contribute to global warming.
- Technology – The type of tech we are most familiar with on a daily basis: digital technologies like devices connected to the internet.
How Does Technology Contribute to Environmental Pollution?
What is technology? Technology is any invention by humans that makes life easier. Here we’ll focus more specifically on digital technologies like phones, computers, and the internet.
The most prominent way digital technology contributes to environmental pollution is via emissions. Emissions are the byproduct of energy production. (Think about burning coal to create electricity and the smoke released from the power plant as a result.) Over 60% of electricity in the US is sourced from coal or natural gas–which both release significant amounts of emissions like carbon dioxide when made into electricity.
All tech-driven devices require energy to be manufactured and for daily use.
As the demand for digital technologies like smart phones goes up, so does the demand for energy.
Key Takeaway:
- Most tech requires energy to run.
- Most energy sources (as of 2021) come from fossil fuels (coal and natural gas).
- These energy sources contribute to environmental pollution via emissions.
Here are a few examples of how devices draw energy, which contributes to pollution…
The Internet and Digital Devices
As you read this article right now, your phone or computer is using energy. Energy is also required to run the servers, routers, and all other elements of the internet that make it possible for you to access the web.
3.7% of all global emissions can be attributed to the internet, electronic devices, and services used to power these (as per a recent study by The Shift Project).
Computers, tablets, and phones are not obvious sources of emissions, like cars, but they do indirectly contribute to global emissions through the use of energy.
On-Demand
The on-demand sector of digital technology is essentially any service that provides on-demand entertainment, food, transportation, etc. (think Netflix, Uber, DoorDash). It’s considered a sub-sector of the internet.
While On-Demand services may lessen your direct emissions in some ways (less driving your car), they increase them in other indirect ways. For example, with the On-Demand technology created by companies like DoorDash, more people are ordering for delivery, and this uses energy on the patron’s phone, the restaurant, and the driver’s phone and car.
The complexity of systems used to bring a meal to your front door makes it difficult to measure the net environmental pollution from on-demand services. However, in general experts believe that on-demand services are more efficient than individuals going to the restaurant or going to the movies. So while on-demand services enabled by tech do contribute to environmental pollution, it is more part of the solution than it is the problem.
Note that some on-demand services are shifting to renewable energy sources which significantly reduces the environmental pollution from their technology.
How Does Technology Contribute to Solving Environmental Problems?
Digital technology might be an important solution to decreasing emissions through advances in farming and transportation, less paper production, and most importantly helping with the switch to green energy.
Key takeaway: technology helps polluting industries become more efficient and will aid in the transition from non-renewable to renewable energy sources.
Here are some examples of how technology can contribute to solving environmental problems…
Technological Advances in Farming
The agricultural industry accounts for over 20% of all global greenhouse gas emissions. Emerging digital technology may be able to reduce the emissions produced by farming through increasing efficiency. For example, this study out of Iowa State University explains that digital technology can be used to optimize farming practices to increase yields. That means that more corn can be produced using less energy, and therefore fewer emissions.
Digital technology is a helpful tool to make this massively polluting industry more efficient.
Technological Advances in Transportation
The transportation sector is the largest source of global emissions, it is responsible for around 30% of global greenhouse gases emitted each year. This is due to burning fossil fuels to power cars, trains, and planes.
One of the largest ways technology is helping reduce global emissions is through the transition from gas-powered to electric cars. Cars are one of the largest sources of global emissions as their exhaust releases carbon dioxide, as does the extraction and processing of the fuel we get at the pump.
Digital technologies are imperative in the switch from fuel-powered to electric vehicles as they can help us design and manufacture electric vehicles so that they can be mass-produced.
Digital technologies can also help reduce emissions in other areas of the transportation sector, such as aviation, and public transportation. For example, technology can help bring alternative energy sources and more efficient engines to trains, planes, and buses which are all large contributors to global emissions.
Transportation is the largest source of global emissions, and technology can help in every area of the transportation sector to make cars, planes, trains, and boats more efficient.
The Key: Green Energy
While all of the above solutions are very important, what we need to reduce global emissions is energy sources that do not create pollution. Technology is the key factor in the transition from non-renewable energy to renewable energy.
Currently, over 60% of the total U.S. energy supply is from coal and natural gas, which both release large amounts of emissions. A transition from these highly polluting modes of energy production to wind, solar, and hydroelectric, is our best bet at decreasing emissions, and we can’t do it without technology.
How Do We Limit Technology’s Negative Impacts on the Environment?
The main way technology contributes to environmental pollution is through energy use. This causes pollution when the energy is generated by non-renewable energy sources. However, when energy is generated by solar, wind, and other sources that do not emit emissions, the corresponding environmental pollution is dramatically decreased.
As an end consumer the best ways to reduce environmental pollution but still enjoy tech are:
- Be Aware – you’ve read this article so you’re already more aware of how tech is related to environmental pollution. This will help you make better decisions about your use of tech.
- Adjust Your Habits – if you want to reduce your personal environmental footprint, consider ways you can use less energy.
- Support Green Tech – if you have the opportunity, you can choose to use products and services from companies that are making an effort to reduce the environmental pollution associated with their tech.
Main Takeaways
- Technology (the internet, digital devices, and related sectors like on-demand) contributes indirectly to global emissions through energy use
- Technology can help reduce global emissions by increasing the energy efficiency of the most polluting sectors: agriculture and transportation
- The only way to completely eradicate emissions from technology is to transition from nonrenewable to renewable energy sources globally
- Technology is a necessary tool in the transition from nonrenewable to renewable energies