When will the computer industry really go green?

I went along to Intel's Centrino 2 media event in Sydney today.

As usual, with a big tech announcement like this, local hacks get the announcement at least half a day after their US counterparts.

With that in mind, the story itself is not likely to be the thing reporters jump on. Sure they will cover technology advancements like this, but don't be surprised if some of the more seasoned scribes scratch the surface seeking an alternative point of view.

At the event I caught up with Phil Cronin, Intel's local head honcho.

During the media session Phil spoke about how enterprises and government departments are not pulling their weight when it comes to computer efficiency.

He described them as “laggards” when it comes to their adoption of mobile computing – inherently less energy ravenous than clunky old desktops with CRT monitors.

“An easy way to reduce energy consumption is to shift from desktop to mobile,” Cronin said.

Phil went on to say the IT industry need to be leads on energy efficiency, particularly in the business and government sectors.

Of course, you need to take Phil's comments with a grain of salt. Intel has a vested interest in shifting the latest and greatest 45nm chips which are of higher value than older generations and propel the company's R&D spending.

I agree with Phil's conclusion though. Local enterprise and government IT organizations are still languishing with a lot of legacy computing hardware, and modernizing to more efficient mobile systems would definitely be a step in the right direction.

The question we all need to ask ourselves is how far the microprocessor industry must advance before we can begin to limit the rate of computer production.

For all the good environmental intentions of technology companies like Intel (itself claiming not to be just jumping on the bandwagon like everyone else), the harsh reality remains that computer production is a very dirty business.

So much energy consumption and environmental disruption results from manufacturing computers – the most complex and prolific manufactured product of all – it just isn't sustainable.

I'm not about to go out on a limb and say Centrino 2 ought to be enough for any application, but it does beg the question – will we ever satisfy our lust for computing power?