Analysis of embodied energy and product lifespan: the potential embodied power sustainability indicator

Abstract

In the context of life cycle assessment sustainability indicators, this article proposes a new indicator that is related to the embodied energy, in order to assess the lifespan of products based on their components. The indicator, called "potential embodied power" (PEP), considers that a nonreplaceable component with a shorter lifespan will determine the lifetime of the product. The PEP indicator can be considered as an inherent property of the product, and it can be optimized by using a material selection method based on the concept of annualized embodied energy. This indicator can be used for product design decision making, since it determines the impact of product disposal in relation to the lifespan for which the product was designed. Also, a methodology is proposed to contribute to evaluating the environmental impact caused by the energy discarded resulting from the design decisions. A case study was performed on smartphones, and the results show that the variation of factors such as module lifespan or embodied energy allows achieving a lower value of the embodied power.

A Bibliometric Analysis of Sustainable Product Design Methods from 1999 to 2022: Trends, Progress, and Disparities between China and the Rest of the World

“…Duran et al, proposed a new sustainability index, namely, "potential embedded power (PEP)", determining the influences of product disposal on the product design life. By doing so, the environmental impacts of resource waste resulting from design decisions can be evaluated [64]. However, the impact of environmental sustainability is frequently associated with economic sustainability indicators, for instance, products with higher energy efficiency are better for the environment.…”

Measurement of embodied carbon and energy of HVAC facilities in healthcare centers

“…From a medium-term perspective, operational energy will progressively decrease during the useful life of a healthcare center (Koezjakov et al, 2018) due to low-consumption equipment, advanced insulation materials and greater user awareness. Also, new devices will include components, such as printed circuit boards and transducers, designed with low impact materials (Ordoñez-Dur an et al, 2020). Therefore, the relationship between embodied and operational energies will change proportionally.…”

Conceptualising Resources-aware Higher Education DigitalInfrastructure through Self-hosting: a Multi-disciplinary View

“…Different devices also have -sometimes radically -different life cycles, with ARM devices (smartphones and tablets) generally having a shorter lifespan [15]. Different device classes may also have different "energy balances" with respect to their embedded energy [37], with some devices being discarded before they have used (and hopefully performed useful work) even a fraction of the energy used in that device's manufacturing. This suggests a simple goal for hardware used in the reCluster architecture: to maximise the useful life of each device before it is discarded, and to aim for each device to perform at least as much useful work (in the form of energy used in software tasks) as it took to manufacture it before it is discarded.…”