Electronics' Carbon Footprints Are Hard to Determine

As an IT manager, you’ve likely wondered how environmentally impactful the electronic products you purchase truly are. Although many companies claim their devices are “green,” new research suggests that carbon footprints are harder to calculate than originally thought.
A team of researchers at Carnegie Mellon University recently completed a study about determining carbon footprints. The researchers, led by Christopher Weber, found that there are large uncertainties in such calculations—particularly when it comes to electronic devices.
Weber is an Adjunct Professor in the university's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He also works as a research member at the Science & Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.
His team concluded that a long list of variables—from shipping materials to production technologies—can alter the accuracy of carbon footprint calculations.
"Variability in the electricity mixes of different markets led to vastly different impacts of product use and greenhouse gas emissions in different geographic locations,'' said Weber, according to a press release. "Further complex systems requiring integrated circuits and several generations of technology increase the uncertainty of carbon footprint estimation for electronic goods.”