Computers and Society Environmental Issues Page 6 December 1995 The Environmental Contribution of Personal Computers: A State of the Art Report Yoni Perl and Edgar Whitley London School of Economics London, United Kingdom Introduction The introduction of personal computers in tile 1980s has significantly increased the number of computers in use throughout the world. It is no longer the case that the computer is a large, isolated machine used to perlbrm mundane tasks like payroll processing and stock control. Nowadays, computers are located in all areas of business life. Computers are lbund on the desks of many of today's office workers, allowing them to use productivity tools like spreadsheets, word processors and databases to support them in their work. hi addition, many computers are found at home and are used for a variety of purposes. The rise in the number of computers in the world has been phenomenal. In the 1940s, there were no more than a dozen compaters in the world, yet by the 1980s it was estimated that there was one computer for every. 800 people. The current ratio is estimated to be one computer for every 44 people in the world. Power constunption A typical
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