We were discussing in class today how in the past users or certain sites/programs were banned due to limitations on bandwith and how that focus has now shifted to copyright infringement and illegal downloading.
This article made me think of how maybe in the future, energy consumption may be the center of that argument - limitations may be made based off of CO2 emissions caused by users?
It might sound a little far fetched, but no one can argue that PC's being on and running for hours and hours on end don't contribue to global warming effects.
You're right to bring up the environmental concerns of new media. That article is certainly well-intentioned, but kind of misses the point (after all, it's written for gamers and not environmental scientists). The most significant impact of the PC age isn't consumer energy use, but rather device production. A quick comparison to the automotive industry: we hear a ton about how much pollution is caused by driving cars. This is all true and not to be taken lightly, but this pollution caused by driving is only 40% of all pollution per car. The other 60% is before it reaches the hands of consumers -- raw material extraction, transportation of materials, and car manufacture. This doesn't even account for all the pollution caused when building stuff FOR cars (like freeways). I don't have the specific numbers for computer production, but the burden of pollution is similarly on the production-side rather than the consumer-side. Even more so for computers, actually, because of the use of more environmentally costly (eg silicon) and even toxic materials that make many parts unfit for reuse or recycling.
Of course it's still important to limit consumer energy consumption, just as that article you linked suggests. And since this is the easiest direction from which to attack pollution, it's a great place to start. I'm just saying that the real solution would have to involve a change in production process too.
As an obnoxiously intense Mac-addict (you know the type), I am especially interested by a current Greenpeace campaign called Green My Apple. The premise: Since Apple prides itself in being a leader in innovation, constomer support, and more, it should also lead the way on environmentally friendly products. Greenpeace ranks Apple right at the bottom on their most recent Green Score Card for electronic companies.