Reusing personal computer devices - good or bad for the environment?

Author

Sahni, S. ; Boustani, A. ; Gutowski, T.G. ; Graves, S.C.

Author_Institution

Mater. Sci. & Eng., Massachusetts Inst. of Technol., Cambridge, MA, USA

fYear

2010

fDate

17-19 May 2010

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

The energy saving potential of reusing / reselling personal computer (PC) devices was evaluated relative to the choice of buying new. Contrary to the common belief of reuse leading to energy savings, with the advent of more efficient laptops and liquid crystal displays (LCD), reuse of an old personal computer device can lead to relative energy expenditure. We found that in certain scenarios this expenditure could be as large as 300% of the lifecycle energy inventory for the new device. As a result, it is essential to assess the reuse of personal computer devices more critically, incorporating the different factors that influence the analysis as discussed below.

Keywords

recycling; energy saving potential; personal computer device reselling; personal computer device reusability; personal computer devices; relative energy expenditure; Computer aided manufacturing; Computer displays; Materials science and technology; Mechanical engineering; Microcomputers; Pervasive computing; Portable computers; Potential energy; Production; Technology management; Computer; Energy; Life Cycle Assessment; Reuse;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST), 2010 IEEE International Symposium on

Conference_Location

Arlington, VA

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-7094-5

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ISSST.2010.5507714

Filename

5507714