The environmental footprint of digital technology
The three tiers and four life-cycle phases, the four indicators, life-cycle assessment and the functional unit, embodied energy, the rebound effect and burden shifting.
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- 5 topics
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Environmental footprint of digital technology: what is it?
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All the pressures digital technology puts on the environment, measured by several indicators across every tier and every life phase.
It is not just the electricity used: making a device often weighs more, in France, than years of using it.
In France, where electricity is low in carbon, which stage weighs most in the carbon footprint of digital technology?
- Manufacturing devices
- Running data centres
- Carrying data across the network
- End of life of equipment
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Manufacturing devices
Little CO2 per kilowatt-hour means use weighs little: manufacturing, done mostly abroad, concentrates most of the emissions. Hence the value of longer device lifetimes.
The footprint of digital technology is split between three tiers: …, … and ….
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The footprint of digital technology is split between three tiers: devices, networks and data centres.
For most indicators, devices (phones, computers, TVs) weigh the most, well ahead of data centres.
Life-cycle assessment: what is it?
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A standardised method that quantifies the impacts of a product or service, from raw material extraction to end of life, across several indicators.
By looking at every phase, it avoids mistaking a gain in use for a net gain when it just moves the impact to manufacturing.