Laboratory of ecosystem management
Life Cycle Environmental
Impacts of Internet
Yves Loerincik, Olivier Jolliet, Greg Norris
Laboratory of ecosystem management
This study
1. The Internet infrastructure has been assessed in two cases:
- The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL)
- The US
2. The Internet infrastructure has been assessed using:
- A Process LCA (PLCA)
- An Input-Output LCA (IO LCA) (A few slides on the theory on IO LCA are available at the end of the presentation for those interested)
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Aims
1. To point out where are the main impacts related to the Internet infrastructure
2. To be able to take into account the Internet infrastructure when evaluating services like e-business, e-banking etc...
3. To compare the Process LCA (PLCA) and the Input-Output LCA (IO LCA)
Laboratory of ecosystem management
The case study of the Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology (EPFL)
Internet infrastructure
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Equipment Numberserver 68
switches 90router 22PC 6745
notebook 355printer 400cable 121225 meter
Step 1: Inventory of the necessary equipment for the Internet infrastructure at the EPFL
The functional unit = Internet infrastructure during one year
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Corresponding annual costs (necessary to perform the IO LCA)
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
An
nu
al
co
st
[M$
]
5
Use
Production
Laboratory of ecosystem management
0.00E+00
1.00E+07
2.00E+07
3.00E+07
4.00E+07
5.00E+07
6.00E+07
7.00E+07
8.00E+07
IO LCA Process LCA
En
erg
y [M
J]
papercableprinternotebookscreenrouterswitchcpuserver
Results: the non-renewable primary embodied energy (use phase and production)
cpu = control unit
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Remarks
1. PCs are dominating (control unit (cpu) + screen)
2. Contribution of the switches and servers are significant
3. IO LCA value is two times the PLCA result
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Non-renewable embodied primary energy, comparison between use and production phase
(relative value)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
serv
er I-
O
serv
er pr
oces
s
contr
ol un
it I-O
contr
ol un
it pro
cess
switc
h I-O
switc
h pro
cess
route
r I-O
route
r pro
cess
scre
en I-
O
scre
en pr
oces
s
note
book
I-O
note
book
proc
ess
er I-
O
er p
roce
ss
Use phaseProduction
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Remarks
1. Use phase is in most of the cases dominating
2. The embodied energy during production is significant
Laboratory of ecosystem management
0.00E+00
5.00E+06
1.00E+07
1.50E+07
2.00E+07
2.50E+07
3.00E+07
En
erg
y [M
J]
'
use
production
Non-renewable embodied primary energy, comparison between use and production phase
(absolute value)
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Remarks
1. Use phase is more important in PLCA than in IO LCA (in relative values)
2. Results for the production is much higher with the IO LCA
Key parameter = the electricity and equipment prices (use to perform the IO LCA)
Laboratory of ecosystem management
The case study of the United States Internet
infrastructure
Filippo Della Croce, Olivier Jolliet, Greg Norris, Yves Loerincik
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Non-renewable primary embodied energy of the Internet infrastructure in place in the USA in 1999
using PLCA
0.00E+00
5.00E+10
1.00E+11
1.50E+11
2.00E+11
2.50E+11
Display
Deskt
op c
ompu
ter
Porta
ble c
ompu
ter
Serve
r
rout
ers
Mini
com
pute
r
Main
fram
e
Term
inal
Total
ers
Mod
ems
porta
ble p
hone
s
net s
cree
npho
nes
e-m
ail te
rmina
ls
web te
rmina
ls
net -
smar
t han
dlese
ts
LAN c
oppe
r
LAN fi
ber o
ptics
WAN c
oppe
r
WAN fi
ber o
ptics
Em
bo
die
d e
ne
rgy
[MJ
]
Laboratory of ecosystem management
0.00E+00
5.00E+10
1.00E+11
1.50E+11
2.00E+11
2.50E+11
3.00E+11
3.50E+11
4.00E+11
Display
Deskt
op c
ompu
ter
Porta
ble c
ompu
ter
Serve
r
rout
ers
Mini
com
pute
r
Main
fram
e
Term
inal
Total
ers
En
erg
y [M
J]
Use
production
Non-renewable primary embodied energy and use phase energy of the Internet Infrastructure
in place in the USA in 1999
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Comparison of various case study for the non-renewable primary embodied energy of computers
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
MCC (PLCA) Miyamoto (PLCA) Atlantic Consulting(PLCA)
TU Munich (PLCA) IO LCA (LCANetbase)
En
erg
y [M
J]
Laboratory of ecosystem management
0.0
100.0
200.0
300.0
400.0
500.0
600.0
700.0
Atlantic consulting (PLCA) TU Munich (PLCA) IO LCA
En
erg
y p
er k
g [
MJ/
kg]
Comparison of IO and process LCA for computers on a per kg basis
Laboratory of ecosystem management
The higher value of the Input-Output LCA can be due to:
- Different energy efficiencies of US and Europe
- Different levels of comprehensiveness of the two methods
- Level of accuracy
Remarks
Laboratory of ecosystem management Different levels of comprehensiveness
In an IO LCA all the sectors of the economy are described, therefore all the
contributions are taken into account.For example (see next slide): the air
transportation, the hotels and lodging place and the automotive rental are normally not considered in a PLCA
Laboratory of ecosystem management Different levels of comprehensiveness
% to total upstream embodied
energy cumulative %Air transportation 12% 12%Electric services (utilities) 12% 24%Computer peripheral equipment 10% 34%Wholesale trade 10% 43%Semiconductors and related devices 9% 53%Petroleum refining 6% 59%Other electronic components 5% 64%Miscellaneous plastics products, n.e.c. 4% 68%Relays and industrial controls 3% 71%Gas production and distribution (utilities) 3% 74%Automotive rental and leasing, without drivers 2% 76%Hotels and lodging places 2% 78%Telephone and telegraph apparatus 2% 80%Aluminum rolling and drawing 2% 81%Motors and generators 1% 83%Blast furnaces and steel mills 1% 84%Sheet metal work 1% 85%Electron tubes 1% 85%Nonferrous wiredrawing and insulating 1% 86%Fabricated metal products, n.e.c. 1% 87%Legal services 1% 87%Paperboard containers and boxes 1% 88%Motor freight transportation and warehousing 1% 89%Power, distribution, and specialty transformers 1% 89%Gaskets, packing, and sealing devices 1% 90%Metal stampings, n.e.c. 1% 91%Real estate agents, managers, operators, and lessors 1% 91%Banking 1% 92%Eating and drinking places 1% 92%Management and consulting services, testing and research labs 1% 93%
Yellow = not normally considered in a PLCA
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Difference in the energy efficiency of US and Europe
0.00E+00
2.00E+06
4.00E+06
6.00E+06
8.00E+06
1.00E+07
1.20E+07
Book
publi
shing
Bottle
d an
d ca
nned
sof
t drin
ks
Electro
nic c
ompu
ters
House
hold
vacu
um c
leane
rs
House
hold
audio
and
vide
o eq
uipm
ent
Prere
cord
ed re
cord
s an
d ta
pes
Drugs
Period
icals
En
erg
y [M
J/M
$]
Primary energy permillions $(consumer value)for the US
Primary energy permillion $ for theNetherland
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Where does the difference between Process and IO-LCA come from
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
primary embodied
energy of a control unitfrom Input Output LCA
primary embodied
energy of a control unitfrom Input Output LCA
(corrected for Europe)
contributions to the
difference betweenprimary embodied
energy of a control unitfrom IO and process
LCA
primary embodied
energy of a control unitfrom process LCA
MJ
considered only by IO and not
by process LCA
luck of accuracy at the sector level in
IO LCA (+/-)
energy efficiency
improvements between 1992 and 1997 and
uncertainties in our calculations
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Remark
We only took into account the necessary physical equipment of the Internet infrastructure. But, if we
have a closer look (see next slide), the main expenses related to a computer network come from
other sectors than equipment (for example software, maintenance, management, etc…).
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Total Cost of IT Ownership, Forrester Consultants, 1997
Hardware26%
Training14%
Software14%
Management46%
Management Costs:
Administration 34%
End user downtime 35%
Co-worker time 14%
Application developm’t 14%
Disaster prevention 5%
Disaster recovery 12%
If the boundaries are extended
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Annual Costs, EPFL Internet
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
cpu
scre
en
note
book
serv
er
switc
h
rout
er
erca
ble
telec
om
softw
are
traini
ng mgt
Ann
ual C
ost
s [M
$]
Use
Production
Laboratory of ecosystem management
0.00E+00
2.00E+07
4.00E+07
6.00E+07
8.00E+07
1.00E+08
1.20E+08
1.40E+08
1.60E+08
IO LCA with TCO IO LCA
En
erg
y [M
J]
mgt
training
software
telecom
cable
printer
notebook
screen
router
switch
cpu
server
Considering the other expenses and using an IO LCA
TCO = Total Cost of Ownership
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Future work
- Look at all the expenses related to the computer network (maintenance, software, buildings, security equipment, etc…) and
evaluate their impacts.
- Use an hybrid approach to assess in more details the important contributions (PC,
electricity, ?,…)
Laboratory of ecosystem management
The next slides present very quickly the Input-Output theory used to
perform the Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment
Input-Output Theory
Laboratory of ecosystem management
- Original work done by Wassily Leontief (1906-1999) in the 60 ’s.
- Economic theory/model to assess the economic system.
- Combined with environmental data (for example to perform LCA).
Input-Output Theory
Laboratory of ecosystem management
1) The economy is divided in sectors.
The US economy is divided in around 500 sectors (Examples: poultry and eggs, cotton, crude petroleum and natural gas, cookies and crackers, cigars, newspaper, luggage, metal heat treating, water transportation, hospitals, child day care service, etc...)
2) Statistical data on the monetary flows between these sectors are collected.
Input-Output Theory
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Tier 2 Tier ...
Sector 2
Sector 1
Sector 3
Sector …
Sector 2
Sector 1
Sector 3
Sector …
Sector 2
Sector 1
Sector 3
Sector …
Tier 0 Tier 1
Sector 1
Sector 2
Sector 3
Sector …
1 Million $
The structure of the economy
Input-Output Theory
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Y)AI(X 1
The Input-Output equation
Y = The final demand (for instance 5 $ of aluminium)X = The necessary output of all the sectors to produce
the 5 $ of aluminium
Input-Output Theory
Laboratory of ecosystem management
Y)AI(FXFf 1
f
= total impact
The environmental equation
X = total outputF = matrix of environmental impacts
Input-Output Theory