Life Cycle Assessment helps to do Green AV
Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of audiovisual equipment shows indicative percentages for the several life cycle phases of projectors, displays, and hardware.
Raw Materials & Production makes up about 23% of the total carbon footprint chain, Distribution around 1%, the Use Phase nearly 79%, and Disposal diminishes it with about 3% by carrying off electronic equipment to recycling companies.
Universities, as end-users, have significant influence in decreasing the impact of AV-IT devices on the environment because the Use Phase encompasses nearly 80% of the carbon footprint. Reducing energy consumption and reusing AV equipment in less demanding workplaces can help. Moreover, the technological lifespan could be stretched beyond common depreciation periods so that the demand for new AV-IT products is decreased and the Raw Materials and Production Phase has a lesser contribution.
TUDesc calculates the estimated lifespan of projectors following the image system contrast ratio methodology (published as ANSI/INFOCOMM 3M-2011) versus operation hours instead of economic life cycle periods. Setting at least two contrast ratio values generates a linear graph inversely proportional to operation hours showing an intersection point with the institute’s default “Threshold Contrast Ratio”. This intersection point generates “Date of Replacement” and “Estimated Life Cycle” for the projector.
The picture below shows an example of the TUDesc CO2 equivalence dashboard with absolute numbers in the green tiles representing tonnes CO2 equivalence (tCO2-eq) for complete lifespans of devices and furniture. The bar graph represents the accumulated numbers for all education spaces per building on an annual basis so that these can be compared to household figures, which is common in management reporting.
CO2-eq values are initially based on default figures such as 920 kilo of Carbon Footprint equivalence for every 1000 Euros of AV-IT devices and 250 kilo for every 1000 Euros of furniture. When the client specifies proper CO2 numbers for the several devices, boards, and furniture within the Admin pages then TUDesc calculates with these more accurate figures automatically.
NB: Did you know that the EU-27's total carbon footprint was equal to 6.8 tonnes CO2 per person in 2019. It consists of about 1.6 tonnes of CO2 per person directly emitted by private households from burning fossil fuels (for heating dwellings and fuelling private vehicles) and 5.2 tonnes per person emitted indirectly along the production chains of final products, which were either consumed or invested in the EU-27, see https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/.
By Piet van der Zanden. 5 May 2022
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