iGo Green: A Life Cycle Assessment of Apple's iPhone

Rodriguez, Emely; Carrasquillo, Odemaris; Lee, Christopher; Lee, Jon; Zhou, Angela

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/73760 Copy

Description

Title

iGo Green: A Life Cycle Assessment of Apple's iPhone

Author(s)

• Rodriguez, Emely
• Carrasquillo, Odemaris
• Lee, Christopher
• Lee, Jon
• Zhou, Angela

Issue Date

2015-03-15

Keyword(s)

• qualitative research methods
• quantitative analyses including statistics
• sustainable computing

Date of Ingest

2015-03-24T16:07:46Z

Abstract

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions continue to rise as a result of growth in population and industrialization. Manufacturing of new products with shortened life cycles, like the iPhone, are a significant source of GHG emissions. To identify and analyze potential environmental impacts of the iPhone, a life cycle assessment (LCA) was completed. A survey of iPhone users was conducted to gain a deeper understanding of consumer behavior. As part of this research it has been found that Apple’s design of the iPhone used a strategy of planned obsolescence, resulting in a shorter life cycle, increased mining of rare earth minerals (REMs), higher rates of product turnover, and higher shipping costs and fuel usage. Surveyed iPhone users were largely unaware of Apple’s iPhone recycling program.

Publisher

iSchools

Series/Report Name or Number

iConference 2015 Proceedings

Type of Resource

text

Genre of Resource

Conference Poster

Language

English

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/73760

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Copyright 2015 is held by the authors. Copyright permissions, when appropriate, must be obtained directly from the authors.

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