Home / Current Issue / Paper 1724232
Impact of Technology on the Environment: A Secondary-Research Study for MCA
Subject area: Science,Engineering and Technology · Area of research: Green Computing
DOI: 10.64388/IREV10I4-1724232
Abstract
Technology has become part of almost every daily task, and the way it interacts with the natural world is tangled. Satellites, renewable-energy equipment and software can all be used to safeguard natural habitats. Yet building and running them takes heavy electricity, draws on finite mineral deposits and, once devices wear out, leaves a growing pile of discarded electronics. The question taken up here is what present-day technology does to the environment, assessed against the yardstick of lasting sustainability instead of immediate pollution figures. Gains and losses are set side by side. Electronic waste and the electricity consumed by digital infrastructure receive closer attention, mostly through Indian examples, and the paper ends with practical suggestions for keeping the damage down. The method is a descriptive, exploratory reading of existing literature. The review leans on five key texts, namely two scholarly journal articles, a pair of reports by global organisations and one regulation of the Indian government, published between 2021 and 2025. Nothing was surveyed and nothing was tested in an experiment. Four findings stand out. Discarded electronics are accumulating far faster than formal recycling can absorb them. Electricity consumption is being pushed upward by AI workloads and the data centres that host them. Studies of the ICT sector’s carbon emissions reach quite different totals. Machine learning and related tools, on the other hand, can help other industries emit less. Overall, technology has no fixed verdict attached to it. Whether it ends up helping or hurting the planet is settled by what people decide when they design a product, manufacture it, supply its power, use it every day, get rid of it and write the rules around it.
Keywords
artificial intelligence; carbon emissions; e-waste; green computing; sustainability
References
[1] Baldé CP, et al. The Global E-waste Monitor 2024. Geneva and Bonn: International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR); 2024.
[2] Freitag C, Berners-Lee M, Widdicks K, Knowles B, Blair GS, Friday A. The real climate and transformative impact of ICT: a critique of estimates, trends, and regulations. Patterns. 2021;2(9):100340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.patter.2021.100340
[3] International Energy Agency. Energy and AI. Paris: IEA; 2025.
[4] Rolnick D, et al. Tackling climate change with machine learning. ACM Comput Surv. 2023;55(2):42. https://doi.org/10.1145/3485128
[5] Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022. New Delhi: Government of India; 2022.
How to cite this paper
@article{1724232,
author = {Prof. Vrushali Godse, Anushri Sarangle, Rutuja Shinde},
title = {Impact of Technology on the Environment: A Secondary-Research Study for MCA},
journal = {Iconic Research And Engineering Journals},
year = {2026},
volume = {10},
number = {4},
pages = {3227-3235},
issn = {2456-8880},
url = {https://www.irejournals.com/formatedpaper/1724232.pdf},
abstract = {Technology has become part of almost every daily task, and the way it interacts with the natural world is tangled. Satellites, renewable-energy equipment and software can all be used to safeguard natural habitats. Yet building and running them takes heavy electricity, draws on finite mineral deposits and, once devices wear out, leaves a growing pile of discarded electronics. The question taken up here is what present-day technology does to the environment, assessed against the yardstick of lasting sustainability instead of immediate pollution figures. Gains and losses are set side by side. Electronic waste and the electricity consumed by digital infrastructure receive closer attention, mostly through Indian examples, and the paper ends with practical suggestions for keeping the damage down. The method is a descriptive, exploratory reading of existing literature. The review leans on five key texts, namely two scholarly journal articles, a pair of reports by global organisations and one regulation of the Indian government, published between 2021 and 2025. Nothing was surveyed and nothing was tested in an experiment. Four findings stand out. Discarded electronics are accumulating far faster than formal recycling can absorb them. Electricity consumption is being pushed upward by AI workloads and the data centres that host them. Studies of the ICT sector’s carbon emissions reach quite different totals. Machine learning and related tools, on the other hand, can help other industries emit less. Overall, technology has no fixed verdict attached to it. Whether it ends up helping or hurting the planet is settled by what people decide when they design a product, manufacture it, supply its power, use it every day, get rid of it and write the rules around it.},
keywords = {artificial intelligence; carbon emissions; e-waste; green computing; sustainability},
month = {October},
doi = {https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I4-1724232}
}