🔗 Frugal computing: On the need for low-carbon and sustainable computing and the path towards zero-carbon computing

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On the need for low-carbon and sustainable computing and the path towards zero-carbon computing.
Computing and infrastructure currently use around 11% of the world's electricity and is projected to grow 3 - 4 times over the next 20 years. As makers of software (and hardware) we've got to find a way to extend the lifespan of devices for as long as possible.

Taking into account the carbon cost of both operation and production, computing would be responsible for 10 GtCO₂e by 2040, almost half of the acceptable CO₂ emissions budget

The report about the cost of planned obsolescence by the European Environmental Bureau [7] makes the scale of the problem very clear. For laptops and similar computers, manufacturing, distribution and disposal account for 52% of their Global Warming Potential (i.e. the amount of CO₂-equivalent emissions caused). For mobile phones, this is 72%. The report calculates that the lifetime of these devices should be at least 25 years to limit their Global Warming Potential.

25-years on the same mobile phone. I can't even imagine. I'd love it if that were possible in today's world. Maybe if it was a "dumb" phone. But even then wireless network's lifespans aren't even that long these days. 

I used my iPhone 6S+ for around 4 years until a pin broke on it and I could no longer charge it. "Repairing" it (my first option) would have meant getting a new iPhone 6S+ for half the cost of a brand new iPhone XR. I hope I can keep my phone for at least as long as I've had my current computer (7 - 8 years).
  1. Tagged with
  2. co2
  3. computing
  4. electricity
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