D(e)carbonizing E-Waste
How industrial strategies are shaping up?
Recently, Apple has launched iPhone 12 without accompanying a charger or earbuds and the goal was to reduce carbon footprint but it stirs up some critics claiming that exclusive transportation of the chargers will produce carbon more than ever and this decision is just a stunt to get extra money from consumers. What’s the justification? let’s find out!
There are about 4.78 billion mobile phone users globally (61.2% of the world’s population), and mobile phone chargers alone generate more than 51,000 tons of e-waste per year.
Number of mobile phones == Number of chargers
Along with Apple, the focus of Samsung and Xiaomi is also to minimize electronic waste through the reuse of chargers on a significant scale. However, these two companies are using a more sensitive approach, in the mid-range segment of mobile phones only.
According to the tech giant, power adapters use the largest amounts of certain materials such as plastic, copper, tin, and zinc. Using smaller and light packaging, they have managed to save 861k tonnes of e-waste and subsequently more packages can be transported in one go. Mining of earth for these materials will also go down, an eco-friendly step.
The other reason for these companies to take such steps is the cost-saving de to the emergence of 5G networks and subsequent higher costs of radio frequency components. All the dynamics of the industry are regarding its overall economics and the target is to implement sustainable decisions in-between. This is indeed a very ambitious step but still, there are some issues we should definitely address — chargers also deteriorate over time and gonna need a new one in 2–3 years. New chargers mean more packaging waste, more energy consumption on delivery. This is actually a demographic situation, the buying rate of phones can vary with that of chargers in different parts of the world.
Any advanced tech solution yet?
The best solution would be for tech giants to agree on a universal plug-in charger for all small or medium-sized electronic devices, including mobile phones.
Universal GaN chargers — Gallium nitride, or GaN, is a material that’s starting to be used for semiconductors in chargers. The main thing about GaN when it comes to chargers is that it produces less heat. Less heat means components can be closer together, so a charger can be smaller than ever before — while maintaining all the power capabilities and safety standards.
Currently, the Information, Communication and Technology sector is responsible for about 2% of the world’s energy consumption.
It’s a crystal-like material that’s capable of conducting far higher voltages. Electrical current can pass through components made from GaN faster than silicon, which leads to even faster processing. GaN is more efficient, so there’s less heat.
With upcoming advanced technologies, surely we can expect major revolutionary steps in this sector and this is the need of the hour ultimately!
~ Ashutosh Kumar
Research credits: Ashutosh Dixit (ashutosh)
