It might be tempting to swap that old slow device and get the latest model and we are definitely encouraged to do this with the advertising that surrounds us every day. But if we delay the time we get another we can slow down consumption. For example, one brand of smartphone claims its handsets should last above 5 years and maybe even up to 10. The average age of a handset at time of replacement is around 2 years. This is actually shorter than anticipated in the design phase, meaning that the handsets are designed to last longer than we use them for.
There have been a number of studies looking into the environmental footprint and the emissions impact of mobile phones throughout their life. The split between production and use can vary depending on model, geographic location, and what counts as use (is it just the electricity we use to charge it or should it include server and internet services and network emissions associated with our use). A review of smartphones between 2010 and 2015 suggested 74% of the emissions come from extraction and manufacture (see graph below) [1]. Some studies have suggested even higher.
Whichever measure we use for the use phase, we can see that holding on to our IT kit for longer reduces the proportion of emissions associated with extraction and manufacture. And it is not just emissions that we save by using the device for longer: there are also savings associated with pollution, risks to human health and biodiversity loss (in fact we help reduce many of the negative effects of mining by collectively making sure the products from mining are used for as long as possible).
A recent study showed that holding on to the smartphone from 2 years to 3 years reduced the carbon footprint by 23-30% and reduced the lifecycle costs to consumers by 4-10%, meaning it can be both environmental and economic to hold on to kit for longer [2].
With smartphones we do need to be aware of security. As long as the device is still supported by the manufacturer and security patches are being sent through we are fine. In fact this is more of a software update issue than a hardware issue. Many old computers can continue to be used with new operating systems for a significant length of time. Having up-to-date software is important for peace of mind.
What we do with our old IT kit also matters. People holding on to old phones means they have less value on the second hand market or the valuable minerals inside are not available for recycling. A relatively new functioning smartphone left in a drawer because it has been replaced could have been used by someone else. And one that is broken could be repaired and re-used or the valuable metals inside could be reclaimed thus reducing the need for endless mining somewhere else. If you are in England or Wales then you should get together with your friends (or collect as a group at church) and donate to CAFOD using schemes like this. There are similar schemes elsewhere too.
Case Study 1: Extending the life of a smartphone
Often it is not the circuit board or screen that is broken but something relatively small. One smartphone had a damaged charging connector and a battery which didn’t store much charge. The charging connector had probably been damaged by someone tripping over the charging cable or the cable being pulled when still connected so that the socket was slightly mis-shapen. The battery’s low state of charge was from frequent charging and much use. The ethical smartphone manufacturer sold replacement parts on their website and so both the charging module and a replacement battery were purchased and the phone was good as new.
Case Study 2: Slow laptop or computer with a full disk
When a computer or laptop that was reasonably fast becomes really slow it could be because the disk is full. One very slow laptop had no space on the disk. One very slow desktop had no space on the primary disk (where the operating system is located) even though their second disk was almost empty. Both were fixed by removing user files. Files from the laptop (mainly photos) were copied to external storage and this released a large amount of space. Files from the desktop primary drive (again mainly photos) were moved to the secondary data drive. In both cases this resulted in recovered speed. The main reason is that the operating system often uses a portion of the primary disk for virtual memory and accessing this when the disk is full is time-consuming. Best to keep around 25% of the space of the disk empty to keep the performance fast. There’s plenty of advice online for this sort of problem and you can always ask a computer-savvy friend or relative to help you with this if you are stuck.
Case Study 3: “Ages to boot” – computers in a community hub that were no longer used
A local community hub bought two identical second-hand reconditioned computers a couple of years ago and they were no longer in use because they took so much time to start. An impressive 12 seconds boot up time was recorded after a volunteer swapped the hard drives to SSDs (Solid State Drives) and installed Linux.
If you are reluctant to change operating system then it may be possible to upgrade RAM and add a fast SSD to an existing desktop with speed problems. This can extend the life of your computer hardware for a lot longer. If in doubt, ask a computer-literate friend to help. You may even want to do a skills swap – maybe there are things that they would like help with like tidying the garden or taking the dog for a walk.
Further reading
[1] Suckling J, Lee J. Redefining scope: the true environmental impact of smartphones?. Int J Life Cycle Assess 20, 1181–1196 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-015-0909-4
[2] Cordella M, Alfieri F, Sanfelix J. Reducing the carbon footprint of ICT products through material efficiency strategies: A life cycle analysis of smartphones. J Ind Ecol. 25, 448–464 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1111/jiec.13119
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