Energy
These specialized panels use the photovoltaic effect to convert sunlight directly into electricity
Solar Panels
True or False
E-waste is growing approximately four times faster than other household waste streams
True
The specialized processors commonly used to train large AI models (abbreviated)
GPUs
You click “save” on a document and it instantly appears on your laptop and phone. What technology allows the same file to be accessed from multiple devices?
Cloud Computing
Green Hack Heist
You enter a design lab and discover an old laptop that is slow, has a dead battery, cracked casing, and outdated software.
Come up with 4 different “green hacks” that could keep this laptop out of the trash.
Replace the battery
Upgrade RAM
Replace storage
Repair the casing
Install lightweight software
Refurbish/resell it
Repurpose it for another use
Recycle components that cannot be reused
This 2-word term describes the power wirelessly transferred to a device over short distances using electromagnetic fields
Inductive Charging (Wireless Charging)
True or False
Population poverty is a primary statistical driver of global e-waste generation
False - It's the opposite
This subfield of AI focuses on giving computers the ability to "see" and interpret visual data from the world
Computer Vision
Accounting for about half of all emails sent globally, this unrequested and unwanted digital junk still generates 0.3 grams of CO₂ even if you never open it.
Spam
A laptop is designed so its battery, RAM, and storage can all be replaced separately. What is the sustainability goal behind this design?
Longer Lifespan
This 2-word term refers to the energy consumed by electronic appliances while they are switched off or in standby mode
Vampire Power (Phantom Load / Standby Power)
This term describes the recovery of valuable metals from discarded electronics
Urban Mining
This term describes a phenomenon where an AI confidently generates false, inaccurate, or fabricated information
Hallucination
Doing this simple action during a 1-hour Zoom call can drop the meeting's carbon footprint by up to 96%.
Turning off camera/video
Instead of using an energy-intensive search engine to repeatedly navigate to websites you visit every day, you should use this built-in browser feature to jump to the page directly.
Bookmarking (Bookmarks)
Which uses more energy per hour?
A. Charging a smartphone
B. A laptop running
C. A Wi-Fi router running
D. A modern LED lightbulb
B. A laptop running
E-Waste Heist
A company releases a new smartphone every year. The new model has: a slightly better camera, a slightly faster processor, and a new charging port.
What's the e-waste problem with this business model?
Frequent upgrades can shorten device lifespans.
Changes like new ports and processors can make repair/reuse more difficult.
AI Heist
You've stolen the blueprints to an AI data center. You locate the servers, cooling systems, backup generators, and networking equipment. Identify 3 potential environmental impacts.
Electricity, water, emissions, fuel use, e-waste, hardware/materials, etc
Watching one hour of high-definition video on Netflix or YouTube consumes about 0.12 kWh of data center electricity, releasing roughly this many grams of CO₂.
42 grams
To maximize the lifespan of a lithium-ion battery in a laptop or phone, experts recommend keeping your battery charge level within this percentage sweet spot rather than leaving it at 100% all day.
20% to 80%
Energy Heist
Name three different places energy is being used in a food-delivery app's system
Data centers/servers
Employee devices
Customer phones
Networking infrastructure
What dangerous airborne chemical byproducts are released when informal operations burn plastic casings off wires to extract copper?
Brominated dioxins and hydrocarbons
Unlike training, this occurs when an already-trained AI model generates an answer to a user's prompt.
Inference
Behind the Screen Heist
A customer makes an online order and their package arrives 24 hours later.
Identify 5 hidden environmental impacts that occur during the delivery process before the package reaches the customer.
Manufacturing
Raw materials
Factory energy
Packaging
Warehousing
Transportation Fuel
Data centers
Delivery vehicle
Returns/waste
This consumer movement fights for legislation that forces tech companies to provide spare parts and manuals so individuals don't have to throw away fixable electronics.
Right to Repair