Reusing Personal Computer Devices - Good or Bad for the Environment?
Name
Gutowski_Reusing personal.pdf
Size
2.11 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
d6c22da95d0f99856aa450e9e06b5ed8
Author(s)
Sahni, Sahil
Boustani, Avid
Gutowski, Timothy G.
Graves, Stephen C.
Date Issued
July 2010
Journal
2010 IEEE International Symposium on Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST)
Publisher
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Citation
Sahni, S. et al. “Reusing personal computer devices - good or bad for the environment?.” Sustainable Systems and Technology (ISSST), 2010 IEEE International Symposium on. 2010. 1-6. © Copyright 2010 IEEE
Version
Final published version
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.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Sloan School of Management
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1109/ISSST.2010.5507714
