INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT

TECHNOLOGY PARK MALAYSIA

CT049-3-1-OSCA

OPERATING SYSTEMS AND COMPUTER

ARCHITECTURE APU1F2203IT

HAND OUT DATE: 12 APRIL 2022

HAND IN DATE: 27 JUNE 2022

WEIGHTAGE: 20%

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES:

1 Submit your assignment at the administrative counter.

2 Students are advised to underpin their answers with the use of references
(cited using the Harvard Name System of Referencing).

3 Late submission will be awarded zero (0) unless Extenuating

Circumstances (EC) are upheld.

4 Cases of plagiarism will be penalized.

5 The assignment should be bound in an appropriate style (comb bound or

stapled).

6 Where the assignment should be submitted in both hardcopy and

softcopy, the softcopy of the written assignment and source code (where
appropriate) should be on a CD in an envelope / CD cover and attached to
the hardcopy.

7 You must obtain % overall to pass this module.

 Name & ID CHANG ZUN NI TP067980

Original Topic by Group: ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 Gaming Laptop

Perspective Selected: Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Technological advancements, particularly in the manufacturing sector, play a

significant role in allowing enterprises to reduce their environmental effect while still
contributing to the value of the societies in which they operate. Technological processes may
be used to promote sustainable behaviours, demonstrating how innovation and sustainability
are becoming increasingly inseparable (Nazarko, 2022). In conjunction to the group
assignment’s subject matter “ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 Gaming Laptop”, this
particular individual assignment will focus on the discussion “Environmental Sustainability”
regarding towards computing technologies. This will emphasise the importance of
sustainability in the technology industry, encouraging the economy as a whole to raise
awareness and practise recycling technology and reusing materials to save our environment;
with contents containing an introduction of the environmentally sustainable side of
manufacturing technological devices, the environmental impacts of technology, various
environmentally sustainable practises to implement in everyday life, the environmentally
sustainable attributes of the device selected, and a conclusion to sum up the topic ideas.

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Table of Contents:

1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………..3

2.0 Environmental Impact of the Manufacturer of Computing Technology…………4

3.0 Ways to Minimize Dangers of Thereof……………………………………………...6

4.0 Environmental Sustainability Attributes of Selected Device:

ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 Gaming Laptop………………………………….9

5.0 Conclusion……………………………………...……………………………………11

6.0 Reference……………………………………………………………………………12

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1.0 Introduction

The human nature has the tendency to keep evolving. However, every act comes with
a cost as selfishness and negligence of humanity are returned with the nature around them
slowly deteriorating. In the modern age’s highly competitive markets, the advent of Industry
4.0 for production and its associated technology, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and
cyber-physical systems, and so many more, has a critical impact on environmental
sustainability due to air pollution, poor waste disposal, and aggressive use of natural
resources, data, and energy. Despite of respective industries or operations, companies are
concerned about the future and wouldn't want to be caught off guard. As a result of the
expertise of quality obtained in product customisation, every industry is embracing Industry
4.0 (Oláh et al., 2020).

Technology has distinctively made a bad reputation in terms of the subject of being
environmentally sustainable. There is no doubt that technology has scarred the environment
through various ways ever since the industrial revolution. While there are some speculations
of people think that changing our modern fast paced lifestyle into slow paced cottage
lifestyle, romanticize living in suburban areas which includes a self-sustaining and
technology free life may make the earth greener; In actuality, it could potentially slow down
the process of making the earth an environmentally sustainable place to live.

The purpose of technology is to make tasks more convenient for us humans to

function for our daily lives. Ever since the stone age, humans created tools to solve problems
and make the process of completing daily tasks more efficient, faster, and even safer. As our
world advances, every other aspect will follow such as new inventions, an increase in number
of users and production capacity. With the ever-growing economy, demand will increase
alongside the supply; and that is where mass production occur to satisfy mass needs but
simultaneously destructing mother nature.

Given the multiple advantages of Industry 4.0, there is still an overconsumption of

resources, raw materials, data, and energy, equivalent to ecologically unsustainable, and has
caused society to be more conscious and concerned towards the dangers and environmental
issues (Oláh et al., 2020). Recently, big corporation leaders are more aware of the effects its
contributed and started the initiative to be more environmentally sustainable.

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2.0 Environmental Impact of the Manufacturer of Computing Technology

Mass production without any prior planning concerning the types of material and
amount of materials needed will prompt to resources depletion. Resource depletion happens
when renewable and non-renewable natural resources become limited due to consumption
outpacing recovery. Simultaneously, mass exploitation towards the environment for resources
may also mean destroy the homes of the biodiversity living in the area causing habitat loss.
Animals are forced to migrate to locations they can survive, the unfortunate flora and fauna
would become extinct due to abnormal environments or even being killed during the process.
Moreover, landslides would frequently occur as the natural resources are stripped from the
lands, which makes the soil unstable to support itself.

Undoubtedly, toxic chemicals such as beryllium, cadmium, lead, mercury, and more
are used to manufacture technological devices. When not managed properly, it would create a
hazardous work environment risking the employees working in the factory. A lot of tech
companies would solve these excess e-wastes by dumping them in secluded locations such as
in poor nations. These poisonous compounds leach into the environment after being disposed
of at a landfill, damaging land, water, and air. Furthermore, devices are frequently
disassembled in rudimentary settings (Vidal, 2013). Toxic chemicals seeping into the land
results in soil contamination, which would affect the water supply contained in the soil;
Eventually polluting the water sources nearby from rivers into seas. Besides that, air pollution
would also occur from the toxic chemicals exposed to the atmosphere. Air pollution would
contribute the ozone layer to thin out, causing ozone depletion. Harmful UV rays to directly
exposed to humans leads to numerous health problems. Those who labour, living and
neighbouring areas would experience potential food shortage as to unable to do agriculture
activities, no clean source of water to drink, no fresh air to breathe, cannot perform daily
tasks and are prone to dangerous diseases.

These reasons would cause the earth to have a greenhouse effect, which would lead to
drastic climate change. Our earth would have increased temperatures causing extreme
weathers, this affects the ice bergs to slowly melt into water due to the heat. Eventually it
increases the chances of natural disasters such as typhoons and tsunamis. Weather instability
with the heat and rain would make agriculture hard to go along as the weather and
temperature is unsuitable for growth and harvest, causing food shortage among the world.

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 What goes around comes around, all of the above is like a domino effect. Ultimately
situations caused by humans leads back to humans; Agonizingly effecting the living
condition of people who has to handle the last stage of product because it is a cheap way to
get rid of the e-wastes. For that, the people involved in the creation of the products which
includes manufacturers, engineers, the business team and more will analyse from the raw
materials, the costs of it and the way they create. The manufacturing part of technologies
would have to go through a long process of planning, decision making, creating, and testing.
As creation process may not go as smooth as expect as there will be trial and error, therefore
the experimental process may repeat to ensure all parties agree that it is the best way to
manufacture it. Lastly, be responsible with the e-waste produced by managing from the start
to the end if the product cycle.

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3.0 Ways to Minimize Dangers of Thereof

Although corporations cannot fully avoid environmental destructions while

manufacturing, however it is possible to minimize the damage caused. There are several ways
to be more environmentally sustainable, not just during manufacturing but even the pre and
post manufacturing process. Both parties are responsible in the product life cycle whether it
be the producers or consumers. The Circular Economy concept will be implemented as a
guide to improve organizational productivity.

Introducing to the Circular Economy (CE), is known as an economic ideology where

the core premise is to retain resources from being removed and flowing from the environment
in the economic cycle, effectively prolonging their life cycle and preventing their return as
trash. This model encourages as well as permits operations within the value chain to become
more effective and efficient, decreasing waste and the need for excessive exploitation of
natural resources. Reduced demand for natural resources reduces the impacts of human
activities on the environment. It encourages to strive towards optimal resource utilisation
instead of resource possession.

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Producers’ perspective

Producers hold the biggest responsibility in the market as they are the ones who
determine what materials to use and how will the process go and releasing of the product.
The decision of corporations will instantly affect the environment in a large scale through
mass production.

During the decision-making phase, product developers must be strategic in designing

the device. Factors such as user experience and user interface of the device, functionalities
the device can perform, supporting hardware needed etc. Furthermore, producers must
consider the types of raw materials used to craft the device, can it be recycled and how much
will they be using to build the devices. As raw materials come from earth, it is quite scarce
and it cause shortage in near future. Therefore, big corporations could have the initiative to
utilize recycled materials in produce their products. This would help to reduce e-waste,
essentially reusing the materials which would potentially decrease the number of raw
materials acquired intended as well. For example, melting down metals and remoulding its
shape to recreate a new part. Sourcing the best materials, hardware parts, alongside with great
craftsmanship will assure strong and long-lasting quality of devices. Besides that, the
packaging for devices is mostly overlooked; Manufacturers should use recyclable and
biodegradable packaging materials which can protect the device whilst also able to be
environmentally friendly as it is just a one-time use thing.

Companies should also prepare a department where customers can drop by to fix their
devices. This is to ensure that businesses are reliable towards their customers when in need,
while also giving the devices a second chance as to repairing for maintenance. Not just that,
companies should also dedicate a department for recycling electronic devices. If devices are
unable to be fix, the company would have the option to recycle the items. Just as mentioned
above, these recycled items can be repurposed to create something new again.

This goes without saying, a corporations’ plannings and executions are far vital as it
impacts the consumer markets. Corporate social responsibility of businesses towards the
environment must not be taken lightly as it is an obligation.

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Users’ perspective

Where there is demand, there shall be supply. Consumers also have the responsibility
in helping the environmentally sustainable side of technology computing as they are the
category of people who are able to influence the production process and contributes to the
manufacturing process.

Consumers could start by doing background checks on the companies and researching
information about the devices. The main idea and plan of the device being high quality as
equipped with various functions to perform different tasks, utilities to help keep the device in
good shape while also being sustainably friendly towards the environment in terms of the
materials the companies use. Products purchased and used will last for a long time, chances
of the device declining in quality will be lower. However, everything will eventually
deteriorate, therefore consumers must find ways to manage the aftermath.

Firstly, users can choose to repair the device as it could stem from minor problems by
just cleaning dusts trapped inside the device, replacing certain hardware parts, or even
performing a disk clean-up, software wise. If fixing does not work or a device update is
needed, users could choose to opt for a new device from an environmentally sustainable
company or purchase a second-hand device. Thrifting electronic devices may be a risk,
therefore users are encouraged to deal with permitted second-hand sellers which supply
perfectly functional used devices. Getting rid of the devices is the last option, and there are
two ways to manage it sustainably. One of the ways is handing in the device to authorized
electronics shop for inspection to evaluate if it is still in a good condition, in need of a fix, or
unusable. Devices will be segregated by status, the ones where can be fixed eventually and
remain as good condition will be sold as second hand, giving the devices a second chance for
their new owners; while unusable devices will head to e-waste recycling centres so hardware
parts can be recycled and remade into something new, ultimately reusing materials, so usage
of raw materials will be reduced.

By purchasing from companies that produces devices sustainably, it reduces

overconsumption and waste, even reusing materials to make new life again. This concludes
consumers themselves must be educated about the sustainability cycle.

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4.0 Environmental Sustainability Attributes of Selected Device:
ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 Gaming Laptop

One of the factors for producers to help the environment is to create high quality
products which are long lasting for the consumer market. In terms of the ASUS ROG
Zephyrus G14 2022 Gaming Laptop, its manufacturer has done an outstanding job designing
the laptop as of its functionalities.

One of the perks of owning this particular laptop is that it can run applications that
requires lots of RAM space to store. Although the main focus of this laptop is for gaming
purposes, it can be also used for heavy tasks such as video editing and music production
owning to AMD Ryzen 9 CPU and discrete GeForce GPU (ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022), n.d.).
This is because gaming laptops are designed to have advanced features than a normal laptop
such as a greater processing power, immense amount of memory, better graphics which
means higher resolution, and acquire rapid speed to process operations. This is the equivalent
of users can kill two birds with one stone by using the laptop for light and heavy tasks,
considered as a multitasking device, making this a worthwhile investment by using one
device to complete diverse types of tasks.

In addition, the Asus Gaming Laptop is powered by a 4-Cell 76Wh battery (ROG
Zephyrus G14 (2022), n.d.). Surprisingly, it charges the laptop up to 50% in half an hour. The
tested battery life lasts up to an astoundingly 10 hours. The combination of fast charging and
long lasting improves battery life which is suitable for running heavy tasks throughout the
day. This benefit saves electricity by having less energy consumption as well.

Besides that, the Asus Gaming Laptop has a cooling system resulting the laptop to not
heat up easily while handling heavy tasks. This is one of the key aspects that needs to be
taken gravely when acquiring something for long term use. Devices heating up easily and
frequently may spur severe damages such as expansion of the battery. It would be subsequent
to hardware parts being unusable from the abnormal chemical reactions and electrical current
flow caused by overheating. Ultimately slowing down the device’s performance overall,
productivity would be then less efficient (Negative Effects of an Overheated Laptop, n.d.).

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 ASUS exclusively uses ROG vapour chamber as well as liquid metal to which is
known for its highly efficient distribution of thermal energy among surfaces such as a
processor die and a heatsink. In addition, the laptop acquires Arc Flow Fans which have been
modified with curved blades and are as thin as 0.1mm base before spreading to the top that
are particularly moulded to maximise airflow while minimising noise as well. Furthermore,
the back of the laptop has air exhaust vents towards the left and right when closed, through
with the lid open the air ends up exhausting below the screen instead out the back. Features
like these employs a tactical fusion of hardware and specifications to obtain optimal cooling
throughout each feature and framework combination whilst also maintaining sound
intensity to a minimum. With a unique fan structure and liquid metal integrate alongside
intelligent software to optimise one’s work and play life (ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022), n.d.)

This concludes ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14 2022 Gaming Laptop is superior device in
which users are able to multitask in terms of workload because of its powerful CPU and GPU
conclusively users will not need to segregate light and heavy tasks by owning more devices
to do specific work. Moreover, its cooling system assists the laptop when processing ongoing
heavy tasks by regulating the temperature to ensure the device does not overheat. Lastly, a
battery to support the laptop for long hours and a fast-charging perk. The laptop provides
environmentally sustainable attributes towards the market which helps in reducing e-waste by
producing high quality products that is long lasting for years to come.

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5.0 Conclusion

All in all, producers and consumers must be aware that they have the power to
influence the consumer market. With the importance of technology in human daily lives, it
has become an essential need for living as the ever-developing technology enhances our
lifestyles to be more convenient by accompanying us humans to deal with dynamic things.
Nonetheless, spare and unwanted parts will certainly be present. Humans have been
disrupting the environment by creating trash, we are responsible to clean up our own mess to
make the environment suitable for all living creatures to survive. It is all about searching
balance between advancing and producing of our needs whilst still taking care of our home.
Although it might take some time, slowly but surely with the help of small acts contributing
turn into big impacts to improve the environment. The reward of undoing mistakes will be
that all creatures are able to return to living comfortably and naturally.

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6.0 Reference

Nazarko, L. (2022). Technology Assessment in Construction Sector as a Strategy towards

Sustainability. ScienceDirect.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705815031276.

Oláh, J., Aburumman, N., Popp, J., Khan, M. A., Haddad, H., & Kitukutha, N. (2020).
Impact of Industry 4.0 on Environmental Sustainability. Sustainability, 12(11), 4674.
https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114674

Vidal, J. (2013, December 16). Toxic E-Waste Dumped in Poor Nations, Says United Nations
- Our World. Unu.edu. https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/toxic-e-waste-dumped-in-poor-
nations-says-united-nations

Circular Economy as a way of increasing efficiency in organizations. (2020, January 28).

The Porto Protocol. https://www.portoprotocol.com/circular-economy-as-a-way-of-
increasing-efficiency-in-organizations/

Negative Effects of an Overheated Laptop. (n.d.). Small Business - Chron.com.

https://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effects-overheated-laptop-48163.html

ROG Zephyrus G14 (2022). (n.d.). Rog.asus.com.

https://rog.asus.com/laptops/rog-zephyrus/rog-zephyrus-g14-2022-series/

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