Experiences of Small Electronics Companies to Underpin Circular Economy Approaches by Means of Simplified Life Cycle Indicators

Transcription

1 Experiences of Small Electronics Companies to Underpin Circular Economy Approaches by Means of Simplified Life Cycle Indicators Karsten Schischke, Fraunhofer IZM

2 Content Fraunhofer Introduction / Background SME Mentoring Programme Circular Economy Business Cases Conclusions

3 Overview Fraunhofer Gesellschaft 67 institutes 23,000 employees approx. 2 billion turnover approx. 70% contract research Information Technology Light & Surfaces Life Sciences Micro Electronics Production Defense & Security Materials & Components

4 Mission Fraunhofer IZM Bringing Microelectronics into Application

5 Environmental assessments and eco-design TotalLife Cycle The em issions ofgreenhouse gases over the w hole productlife cycle is one indicator to verify,how "green"a productis.w ith our business m odeland productdesign approach w e intend to m inim ise the footprintofour products. MakeMeEcoPC kg CO2-eq. / lifetime Manufacturing (raw materials and production) 65,0 Repair / Replacem ent over lifetime (new spare parts usage) The production ofelectronics parts and com ponents is very energy intensive and thus also contributes significantly to greenhouse gas em issions.identifying the com ponents w ith the highestcarbon footprint in production guides us in our design decisions and our refurbishm ent strategy. Housing 12% Use Material Recycling Component Reuse Carbon Footprint - Production Power Supply 5% Storage 39% Battery 0% others 9% Processor 3% Display 19% To tals Printed Circuit Board Assemblies 1% Memory 12% 19,0-11,3-4,1 359,3 Screening 427,9 Life Cycle Assessments and review of LCA D espite the selection ofenergy efficientcom ponents for our products,the use phase is stillm ostdom inantin term s ofgreenhouse gas em issions,actually due to the long lifetim e.pow er consum ption in the various m odes contributes to globalw arm ing.adaptyour use patterns to Material efficiency indicators and assessments Carbon Footprint - Use Power short idle 71,7% Power off 0,1% Power sleep 0,4% Reverse engineering studies Power long idle 27,8% Eco-benchmarks, indicators and energy efficiency metrics Application of bio-based materials Eco-design directive: Preparatory studies and compliance testing Critical substances ( beyond RoHS ): supply chain management and substitution Technology monitoring and policy consulting

6 Introduction Project background LCA to go - Boosting Life Cycle Assessment Use in European SMEs ( ) 1) Analyse needs among SMEs to quantify life cycle impacts 2) Develop a tool to simplify the analysis for SMEs 3) Run a mentoring programme to educate SMEs /

7 Introduction SME survey 2011 What are/will be your main drivers to undertake an environmental assessment? (electronics sector, n=28)

8 Introduction SME survey 2011 requests for LCA data, recyclability assessments, and total cost-of-ownership are rare, but they do occur companies also mentioned a severe current interest in lifetime, reuse and service aspects Two main target groups identified: 1) Product developers and manufacturers with a clear green agenda, and 2) Companies in the reuse, repair and refurbishment business extending the lifetime of electronics products

9 Introduction Simplified Environmental Assessments Background research Identify most relevant subassemblies, cut-off the rest (generic overhead applies) External Power Supply - THT capacitors and coils Mainboard Substrate Materials PCB Processing Sheetmetal Manufacturing Mainboard - Large ICs (CPU, memory) EPS 5,7% HDD Passive Components (SMDs) Housing - Back cover Housing 21,0% 3,4% 60 kg Mainboard Assembly 25,0% Display 26,5% Carbon footprint PC production Metal Frame (front panel) Display

10 Introduction Simplified Environmental Assessments Input parameters production phase CPU application type / number of cores mainboard area connectivity RAM capacity HDD or SSD capacity battery capacity display size power supply: rated output

11 Introduction Simplified Environmental Assessments Modelling of other life cycle phases Lifetime scenario Use scenario Energy consumption (Energy Star) Repair scenario (component replacement) Scenarios for reuse / recycling / disposal

12 Mentoring Programme Findings Electronics Sector Motivating factors among 18 mentored SMEs External communication (11x) Green DNA / Environmentalism (6x) Ecodesign (3x) Compliance (3x) Costs (1x)

13 Mentoring Programme Findings Electronics Sector Motivating factors among 18 mentored SMEs Some company statements communicate the effect of resource savings and GHG reduction through lifetime extension anticipate a kind of educational role company is passionate about saving resources

14 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Metech Recycling Ltd. mid-size company, one of the largest electronics recycling, refurbishment and resale enterprises in Wales Disassembly of electronics devices at Metech is done manually and largely also non-destructive (component reuse)

15 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Metech Recycling Ltd. Mentoring example: refurbishment of a Fujitsu Desktop-PC, total extended lifetime of 8 years, DRAM and hard disk drive have to be replaced once Findings: carbon footprint of the initial material acquisition and manufacturing phase: 110 kg CO 2 -eq. refurbishment operations: transports are less relevant for the total carbon footprint as long as larger batches are transported regionally

16 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Metech Recycling Ltd. Findings (cont d): computer reuse saves 8% of the carbon emissions on per-year-of-usebasis (including use phase impacts)

17 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Paxpring B.V. designs and delivers complete packaging solutions customers from the ICT sector observed trend: clients ask for LCA evidence, but have got only a limited understanding what Life Cycle Assessments actually are and what the results might tell

18 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Paxpring B.V. Mentoring example: Develop a carbon footprint calculator for packaging design Findings: Highly useful at pitches with clients, when presenting design alternatives Design example small sleeve: High carbon footprint: mixed corrugated board / plastic foil option Moderate carbon footprint: bleached or unbleached corrugated board alternative yields a similar carbon footprint Low carbon footprint: folded cardboard package

19 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Circular Devices Start-up in Finland idea: modular smartphone ( Puzzlephone ) concept: 3 modules - display, battery, electronics

20 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Circular Devices Mentoring exercise: How to underpin the product concept with environmental arguments? Assessment of a conventional smartphone

21 Circular Economy Business Cases Case study: Circular Devices Findings and key message: Don t let the battery or the display determine product lifetime! miscellaneous parts 9% battery 12% housing and internal structural elements 3% display 5% Printed Circuit Board Assemblies 6% power supply 4% connectivity 3% flash memory 16% 26,5 kg CO2-eq. RAM memory 12% processor 30%

22 Conclusions SMEs which potentially can benefit from a quantification of product life cycle impacts are those with a relevant impact on the supply chain, use phase and/or end-of-life and match one or several of the following categories: specifying or even designing an end-product, making choices regarding material and component selection, having influence on process performance / efficiency with an impact on energy or material consumption elsewhere in the life cycle, being involved in activities (and decisions) influencing lifetime and reuse of products, being under market (legislative) pressure to provide relevant partial life cycle data to customers or where the perceived green features of a product / material require a solid knowledge in this domain.

23 Conclusions (cont d) communication of Circular Economy business models requires facts and figures simplified Life Cycle Assessments / Carbon Footprint calculations are useful tools for external communication and to guide business decisions / strategies ½ day of mentoring is sufficient to bring SMEs up to speed (backed by investment in substantial background research upfront)

24 Thanks for your attention! Karsten Schischke Fraunhofer IZM Gustav-Meyer-Allee Berlin, Germany LCA to go ( has received funding from the European Union's Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No

25 September 6-9, 2016 Berlin, Germany Program Overview Tue, Sept 6 Wed-Fri, Sept 7-9 Technical Tours, e.g. Guided IFA-Tour, Get Together Conference Programme Location Dahlem Cube / Seminaris CampusHotel, Berlin Chairman Prof. Dr. Klaus-Dieter Lang Schedule Call for Papers September 2015 Website Going Green A Co-Operation of the World s Leading Conferences CARE Innovation, Europe EcoDesign, Japan organized by Karsten Schischke ISSST, USA Emerging Green, USA