Harrogate based Techbuyer, as well as subsidiaries Interact and Ortial, travelled to the National Museum of Computing this week to offer IT sustainability training sessions to KS3 and KS4 students, demonstrating how to be more responsible with technology. This event covered five sessions designed to increase awareness of students, and their teachers, on the impact of technology on the environment and how we can work to reduce its consequences.

These sessions, focusing on the circular IT economy, included presentations from industry experts on how tech ties to climate change, reducing energy usage through behaviour change and how data is stored. During these sessions, students were also given the opportunity to teardown laptops to their components to see exactly what goes into making a device tick. The event was designed to support and enrich the National Curriculum with an understanding of how hardware works and the habits we can create to make best use of resources.

“Sessions like this are a fantastic complement to curricular activities, engaging young people to get hands on with leaders in the sector. Experiential learning is key in helping young people to understand and remember some of the key concepts – it is a real piece of knowledge transfer from the current industry professionals to the generation that will next take the wheel,” said Jacqui Garrad, Museum Director at the National Museum of Computing.

Teaching Sustainable Technology Habits

Techbuyer, a global sustainable IT solutions provider, ran sessions on components and how they work, as well as how to disassemble and extend product lifespan for laptops (a popular choice for schoolwork, games and socialising for the students at the event) with the support of Ortial, a UK based component manufacturer.

Members of the Sustainability Team also delivered lessons on how technology ties to climate change and the meaning of circular economy in the tech sector. Sister company Interact, a specialist in the provision of energy efficient IT systems, taught the students how energy is used in the networks and how they can cut down on waste with behaviour changes.

“Feedback from learners and educators has been outstanding,” said Storm Rae, Head of Learning and Development at the National Museum of Computing, “It supports curriculum offering in a fun and interactive way with real life applications to inspire young people considering careers in technology. Our favourite feedback is “like revision but fun”. We are delighted to open these exclusive and inclusive learning opportunities to our wonderful network of home educators as well as classroom teachers.”

Education for a Sustainable Future

Techbuyer has supported the UN Sustainability Goals since 2019 with targets set against Goal 4 – Quality Education and Goal 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production as well as Goal 3 – Good Health and Wellbeing. This event contributed towards the company’s target of contributing 5,000 hours towards the education of young people on sustainable technology. The company and its subsidiaries hope to deliver more of these sessions to other educational institutions over the coming months and years and has left lesson plans with the museum in this spirit. The group have also generated a Zine for young people, which is available here [link to Zine].

“We felt the sessions were important because, in the race to digitalise at scale and pace, we sometimes lose sight of what data storage and transfer costs us in terms of energy and materials. The next generation needs to understand the environmental sustainability issues we face if they are going to have a chance of properly addressing them. This is a way of making them conscious of that side of things as they develop their skills,” said Astrid Wynne, Techbuyer Sustainability Lead and Head of Sustainability at Interact.

You may remember many things from your time at school, but sustainability skills probably didn’t play a huge role in your time in education. However, that is all changing; sustainability education and green skills, as they become increasingly important in working life, are being taught more and more in schools across the country.

Techbuyer and Sustainable Technology

Techbuyer is a sustainable technology company based in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. Together, with its sister companies, Interact and Ortial, Techbuyer Group works to reduce the impact of technology on the planet by offering sustainable IT solutions designed to fuel the circular IT economy. Find out more about Techbuyer’s sustainable IT solutions here.