Computers/LCA
This is a page about life cycle assessment of computers.
Ratio needed
We need to compare
- a: the total life-cycle energy of a computer: production
(...)( manufacturing + assembly + [if recycling is not counted in "end-of-life", then include the production of most of the raw materials involved] ) + usage + end-of-life (...)( preferably, estimate how much energy it would take to properly recycle the computer )
with
- b: just the energy the computer is expected to consume during its lifespan of usage.
The ratio would be "a/b" with the definitions above.
What this is needed for
- You know when news articles talk about how much energy is used in A.I., cloud computing, cryptocurrency, etc.: This only includes the energy consumed by the computers/servers. It doesn't factor in any of the energy it takes to manufacture the computers in the first place. A simple solution would be to multiply by the ratio described above.
- The ratio would also help computer server owners decide
(...)( if we want the best decision with regards to reducing carbon emissions ) whether or not to upgrade older computers to newer more energy-efficient ones.
Scope
For now, let's try to estimate this ratio for server computers
- more predictable: Servers are load-balanced, whereas desktop computers tend to sit idle most of the time.
- more important: Servers are the most likely to scale up whenever there's growth in crypto or A.I.
For desktop computers and mobile phones, their life-cycle energy is still important for assessing the environmental impact of planned obsolescence and code bloat.