back to article BOFH: Carbon neutrality

"What're they for?" the PFY asks as the Boss rolls in a trolley load of brightly coloured plastic bins. "They're for our recycling initiative," the Boss responds. "Red for plastic, white for paper, yellow for cardboard and blue for polystyrene." "What about glass?" the PFY asks. "Glass is to be sorted by colour into bins …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    Re: Carbon neutrality

    The reality is that recycling saves on energy costs to create new products. Glass is made from silica; last time I checked, the beaches were full of the stuff, and there are plenty of other sources. Hardly a scarce resource. Plastic is made from petroleum, and there's no end in sight of that. Oh wait, scratch that last bit.

    As recent commercials here in the UK have pointed out, recycling a single aluminum can save enough electricity to power a TV or a refrigerator or some such. Or perhaps a REAL computer for a matter of seconds.

  2. Dave
    Coat

    @Simon Harris

    ""Brainwave - Make the computers out of carbon thus making your computer carbon neutral.""

    "That day might yet come - the carbon transistor already exists: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/29/carbon_nanotube_radio/"

    "Hmmm... and to think back in 1981, I suggested to my chemistry teacher that since germanium and silicon were used as semiconductions, maybe carbon could be too, and he didn't take me seriously"

    Carbon is definitely a semiconductor. Even back when incandescent light bulbs were made with Carbon thread filaments, it exhibited semiconducting effects (The resistance decreased with increasing temperature.). Of course, for it to really be useful, it needs to be in a certain form (e.g., nanotube, or crystalline). Thus, we have diamond transistors:

    http://www.newscientist.com/blog/invention/2006/04/diamond-transistors.html

    http://www.geek.com/diamond-semiconductors/

    I can see the future now. Us geeks won't be asking each other how many gigabytes of memory our systems have, or what the processor speed is; we'll be asking each other how many carats our systems have in them. ;-)

    Dave

    P.S. Think that'll get more women interested in IT? Err, I'll get my coat...

  3. mittfh
    IT Angle

    Re: keyboard cleaning

    Once when I was at Uni, I took a rather long-winded way around the issue...

    Unscrewed the keyboard, removed the top portion (leaving the base and plastic/rubber sheets behind), and gave it a good scrub in a bowl of hot and soapy water. I still wasn't satisfied with the extent to which the section under the keys was cleaned, so I carefully removed all the keys...

    Surprisingly enough, 24hrs later when the keyboard was completely dry and reassembled, it worked again. Needless to say, the hassle involved in that method makes it completely impractical for all but the most grimey keyboards!

    -oOo-

    I've worked as a school IT tech since - imagine the delight of rearranging keyboard letters so they no longer spell out "interesting" words, or spending "holidays" unscrewing 300+ balled mice to clean the rollers because I'd previously superglued the ball compartment cover on to prevent pupils castrating the rodents...

    If I was still in school IT, I'd've been tempted to imagine the fun that would ensue if the BOFH paid a visit :)

  4. archie lukas
    Flame

    Engineers

    Qoute: "The title of engineer should only be applied to engineers."

    What type of engines do you specialise in building / repairing?

    Historical definition ruleth

  5. Chris Tucker

    Lack of an MCSE notwithstanding...

    "Qoute: "The title of engineer should only be applied to engineers."

    What type of engines do you specialise in building / repairing?

    Contemporary Babbage Numerical Difference Engines, what else?"

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