Carbon impacts for electronics and control boards

[Sam]

Hi there,

Would like to dig into the factors behind electronics and control boards. A couple of examples pulled from eTool data below. Are you able to provide more information on these, or point us to the source of these factors please?

Electronics for Control Unit ~35kgCO2e/kg
Electrical Equipment General ~13kgCO2e/kg

With the growth of data centres it’s becoming increasingly important that these materials impacts are represented reasonably and accurately. Complexity of the supply chain makes it difficult to understand and investigate.

Thank you

[Fei Ngeow]

Hi Sam,

It depends on which region dataset you’re looking at. Our Australasian dataset is based on the AusLCI dataset which may also use EcoInvent as a shadow database. Other regions are based on EcoInvent. You’re also right that the supply chain is very complex for electronics therefore the data will vary depending on which sources you reference and their assumptions. However there will be a range where the impacts typically fall within.

Best practice is to generally err on the side of ‘safety’ (i.e. what’s best for the planet) such as being conservative and assuming worse case scenarios. Ultimately the purpose of LCA is to be ‘generally right but not precisely wrong’ so as to steer outcomes that are better for the planet.