Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

Every device has a life cycle: raw materials are extracted from the ground, the device is manufactured, transported to where it is sold, used, and finally disposed of. Each stage can harm the environment, and a surprisingly large share of that harm happens before the device is ever switched on.

Raw materials and mining

Devices are built from metals and minerals such as aluminium, tin and nickel. These are non-renewable: the Earth holds a fixed amount, so once they are mined and used up they cannot be replaced. Mining uses huge amounts of energy and water, scars the landscape, destroys habitats, and the waste rock and chemicals used to separate the metal can pollute soil and rivers. The aluminium in a games console casing, for example, is dug out as ore, crushed and then heated with enormous amounts of electricity to release the metal.

Manufacturing and transport

Turning those materials into chips, screens and circuit boards takes more energy. Factories run machinery and keep production areas at carefully controlled temperatures, and the electricity they use is often generated by burning fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide. The finished devices then travel by container ship, lorry and plane, and the fuel burned on those journeys adds more greenhouse gases.

Why the early stages matter

Add the stages together and the impact before use can be surprisingly large. It is like costing a school trip by the bus fare alone, ignoring the tickets, lunches and staff cover: you get a number, but not the real cost. The mining, chip-making and shipping behind a device can release more greenhouse gas than years of electricity for using it. Judging a device only by the power it draws when switched on therefore misses much of its environmental cost.