Computers, Internet, and Training for California Low-Income Families

The TechSoup Global GreenTech program has just posted new Web pages listing low-cost refurbished computers, Internet, and computer training For California low-income families, as part of our California Emerging Technology Fund sponsored work to supply digital inclusion resources to underserved people in our home state.

Why is this on GreenTech?

TechSoup Global now has a number of environmentally oriented programs including the Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher Program (CMAR), which provides very low-cost ($5 USD) Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Microsoft Office licensing to PC refurbishers in North, Central, and South America. The program currently serves 736 refurbishers in the region.

One of TechSoup's missions is to help strengthen the computer reuse and refurbishing sector by bringing resources to this field and also by identifying & implementing the business management practices necessary to attract a much higher volume of five year old and newer refurbishable computers and other electronic devices mainly from business and government.

Our new digital inclusion Web pages feature those California CMAR refurbishers that supply equipment to low-income families, plus it guides them to computer training and very low-cost Internet so that they can make optimum use of their new computers.

The environmental case for refurbished computers is surprisingly strong. According to the U.S. environmental scientist, Dr. Eric Williams of Arizona State University, it is roughly 20 times more beneficial environmentally to reuse a desktop computer system than to end-of-life recycle it at 3 to 5 years of age. This finding is also confirmed in the U.S. EPA Electronics Environmental Benefits Calculator.

The main reason for this is that complex electronic devices like computers are extremely resource intensive to manufacture, and they contain hundreds of substances, many of them toxic.

According to Paul Hawkin and his book "Natural Capitalism", the waste that goes into manufacturing and computer is 4,000 to 1. For instance when you discard a 5 pound laptop you are also throwing away the 20,000 lbs of materials it took to create the machine.

Most resource intensive electrical products, like refrigerators, consume about 95 per cent of lifecycle fossil fuels when in use. However, 75 per cent of PC fossil fuel consumption has already happened before the computer is ever switched on. It is used in the production phase. Computers are very expensive environmentally to produce.

Refurbishing is the highest form of recycling in that it retains the intended function and materials of electronic equipment with very little wasted. It extends (often doubling) the life of electronic equipment, & eventually reduces the amount of material needed for production.

Refurbishing is integral to achieving zero waste goals that more & more governments now have targets for. It is a necessary part of overall waste reduction and also directly addresses the throw-away society paradigm.

The new Computers For California Low-Income Families pages are one way we are integrating TechSoup Global’s digital inclusion and environmental missions.