Carbon footprint
From Wiki for Sustainable IT
The carbon footprint estimates the quantity of greenhouse gases emitted to satisfy consumption of goods, services and infrastructure, wherever production takes place.
For digital technology
Manufacturing dominates. Extracting materials, producing semiconductors and assembling devices account for most emissions over a device's life, well ahead of electricity used in operation.
This has a direct consequence: extending the useful life of a device reduces its footprint far more than any improvement in its energy efficiency.
Measuring
- GHG Protocol provides the international accounting method, structured in three scopes ;
- ISO 14064 makes the declaration auditable ;
- the French Bilan Carbone method provides an operational approach ;
- Life cycle assessment extends the analysis beyond carbon to other impacts.
Carbon alone gives an incomplete picture. Material and water footprints follow different logics and do not vary together.
