Given the push to renewable energy, the carbon footprint of devices should improve but it will take a few years. To address this issue, companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) are expanding their renewable energy purchases and are committing to 100% renewable energy by 2050. Semiconductor manufacturing facilities require massive amounts of electricity annually, in the range of what it takes to power entire cities for the largest manufacturers. The chips are built layer by layer onto large wafers that can produce anywhere from 10s to 100s of chips depending on the size of the integrated circuit. The silicon chips that go into the latest high-tech gadgets are the product of an extremely complex manufacturing process that requires significant energy and uses materials with high global warming potential (GWP). Quite literally, it is the little things that matter the most when it comes to carbon emissions in electronic devices. Although integrated circuits are by nature quite small, they result in a disproportional environmental impact. These include components such as CPUs, graphics processing units or GPUs, solid-state drives or SSDs, memory, network processors, wireless processors, voltage regulators, and many more. However, the biggest contributor to embodied carbon comes from the integrated circuits within the system especially as our devices get smaller and more powerful. It’s The Little Things That MatterĪ phone or laptop are complex devices, with many parts and materials that make up the product from batteries and displays to the electronics that control the device. You would have to use a smartphone and Surface laptop for 10 years (assuming use is 10% of the overall carbon cost) and 11.7 years, respectively, to match the carbon emissions associated with manufacturing the devices. Similarly, aSurface laptop has a carbon footprint of 152 Kg CO2e and 78% or 119 Kg is from manufacturing and 20% or 30 Kg is from use over a three-year lifetime. Manufacturing a smartphone accounts for 85%-95% of the annual carbon footprint of the phone, and the average smartphone requires 55 Kg of CO2e to manufacture. Each of these devices generates a significant carbon footprint during the manufacturing phase. The average US household has 11 connected devices ranging from tablets, computers, and cell phones to smart speakers and watches. However, what most of us may not realize is that the majority of the carbon footprint associated with your electronic device occurred before you ever purchased it. These are all valid solutions and play an important part in reducing the carbon output of the system. When the subject becomes electronic devices, similar tactics are often put in place: dim the display or put the laptop to sleep at night. When we talk about reducing our lifestyle carbon footprint, most of us think about turning down the heat in winter or driving or flying less.
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