Reusing Personal Computer Devices - Good or Bad for the Environment?

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 persona...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Sahni, Sahil, Boustani, Avid, Gutowski, Timothy G., Graves, Stephen C.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers 2011
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/60689
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7019-6887
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5966-6032
Description
Summary: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.