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By Gemma Simpson, 21 November 2007 16:16

NEWS

Upgrades

Upgrading your phone or getting that funky new hardware or operating system might make you feel more tech-savvy but eco groups are asking businesses and consumers to consider the environment before ditching old gadgets.

Green IT from A to Z

Click on the links below to find out more...

A is for Abroad
B is for Blades
C is for Carbon footprint
D is for Data centres
E is for Energy sources
F is for Freecycle
G is for Government
H is for Homeworking
I is for Ice caps
J is for Jobs (Steve)
K is for Kilowatts
L is for Landfill
M is for Mercury
N is for Nanogeneration
O is for Offsetting
P is for Paperless office
Q is for Queen
R is for Recycling
S is for SmartPlanet.com
T is for Travel
U is for Upgrade
V is for Virtualisation
W is for WEEE
X is for Xmas
Y is for You
Z is for Zero emissions

Early this year the Green Party warned that the move to Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system might have prompted PC users to dump old machines in landfill as they upgraded to the move powerful software - not something that appears to have happened so far.

And some mobile operators have been discouraging users from upgrading their handsets unnecessarily. Two very similar announcements from Orange and O2 revealed the companies will be encouraging consumers to only renew their handsets every two years, rather than using the 12 monthly replacement cycle most consumers now expect.

O2 said its 24-month contract is all with climate change in mind - fewer handsets produced, fewer in landfill, fewer emissions.

And Orange takes a more straightforward approach, pushing its two-year initiative as a simple price trade off - keep hold of your phone, get cheaper tariffs.

Of course, upgrading shouldn't always mean replacing the hardware - although only the braver souls are likely to want to crack open their PC to upgrade the cards or motherboard inside...