How does digital technology affect the environment?
Understand the environmental impact of digital technology, including energy use, e-waste and the use of finite raw materials, and how impacts can be reduced.
A focused answer to AQA GCSE Computer Science 3.8, covering the environmental impact of digital technology, including energy use, e-waste and finite raw materials, and how impacts can be reduced.
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What this dot point is asking
AQA wants you to describe the environmental impact of digital technology, including energy consumption, electronic waste and the use of finite raw materials, and explain how these impacts can be reduced.
Energy use
The scale matters: the data centres behind streaming, cloud storage and search run continuously and need constant cooling, so their combined electricity demand is large. As more services move online, this demand grows, which is why energy efficiency and renewable power for data centres are central to reducing the impact.
Raw materials
Electronic waste
Reducing the impact
The full life cycle of a device
A balanced answer can follow a device through its whole life, because each stage has an impact. Manufacture uses energy and finite raw materials mined from the ground, often in another country. Use consumes electricity, both by the device and by the data centres it connects to. Disposal creates e-waste that may contain toxic substances. Seeing the life cycle explains why the solutions target different stages: efficient design and renewable energy cut the use-stage impact, repairing and reusing devices delay the disposal stage and reduce the demand for new manufacture, and responsible recycling recovers materials at the disposal stage so less new mining is needed. Reducing how often devices are replaced helps at every stage at once.
Try this
Q1. State two environmental impacts of digital technology. [2 marks]
- Cue. Any two of: high energy use, e-waste, and the mining of finite raw materials.
Q2. Give one way the environmental impact of technology can be reduced. [1 mark]
- Cue. Repairing and reusing devices to extend their life, recycling e-waste, or using more energy-efficient devices and renewable energy.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of AQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
AQA 20194 marksDescribe two ways that digital technology has a negative impact on the environment, and for each describe one way the impact could be reduced.Show worked answer →
Energy use: computers, networks and especially data centres use large amounts of electricity to run and to keep cool, and much of it comes from fossil fuels, contributing to carbon emissions. This can be reduced by designing more energy-efficient devices and powering data centres with renewable energy.
Electronic waste: devices are replaced quickly and become e-waste that can contain toxic substances harmful if dumped in landfill. This can be reduced by repairing, reusing and upgrading devices to extend their life, and recycling e-waste responsibly. (Mining of finite raw materials is a third valid impact.)
Markers reward two distinct impacts (from energy, e-waste, raw materials), each paired with a sensible way to reduce it.
AQA 20223 marksExplain why the manufacture of digital devices has an environmental impact, referring to raw materials, and explain why recycling old devices helps.Show worked answer →
Manufacturing devices uses finite raw materials, including metals and rare elements that must be mined. Mining damages habitats and uses energy, and because the materials are finite they cannot be replaced once used up, so demand for new devices drives more extraction.
Recycling old devices helps because it recovers usable materials from e-waste so they can be used again instead of mining new ones, reducing the demand for fresh extraction, and it keeps toxic substances out of landfill.
Markers reward the finite-materials and mining point and the recycling benefit (recover materials, less mining, less toxic waste).
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Sources & how we know this
- AQA GCSE Computer Science (8525) specification — AQA (2020)