Environmental impacts of electronics and the role of open source hardware
- Speaker(s): Maxime Pelcat
- email: maxime.pelcat@insa-rennes.fr
- affiliation: Univ Rennes, INSA Rennes and IETR
- abstract:
Electronics contributes to technological advances in all fields of knowledge. Technological challenges in electronics include energy efficiency, material cybersecurity, miniaturization and dependability. Every solution to these challenges opens up new markets, and creates thousands of new jobs every year.
Worldwide, the industry produces 53 million tonnes of e-waste a year. Less than 20% of this e-waste is recycled, and the trend in annual e-waste production is upwards. The carbon impact of the manufacture and end-of-life of digital systems plays an increasing role in the carbon impact of their entire life cycle, alongside the carbon impact of their energy supply. In this context, new methods are needed to increase the repairability, reconfigurability and reusability of systems, as well as to reduce the impacts of production and end-of-life.
The current "open source hardware" movement represents an opportunity to build sustainable technologies for the interoperability and scalability of electronic systems. The PIA Compétences et Métiers d'Avenir ESOS project (https://esos.insa-rennes.fr, 2023-2028), financed by France2030, aims to put in place design methods for sustainable electronics, and to train technicians, engineers and doctors capable of implementing the required transition.
From the discussions at FSIC 2023, a statement on electronics sustainability has emerged and is available on : https://wiki.f-si.org/index.php?title=Recommendations_for_the_EC_on_how_to_reduce_the_environmental_impact_of_the_ICT_sector
Downloads
Powerpoint version available upon request.