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For calibrating your understanding of greenhouse gas emissions producing, packaging, shipping, using, and recovering materials from a 14-inch MacBook Pro in 202

by wilg 2y ago

For calibrating your understanding of greenhouse gas emissions producing, packaging, shipping, using, and recovering materials from a 14-inch MacBook Pro in 2023 emits about 243 kg of carbon [1], which is equivalent to using 27 gallons of gasoline. [2] For some people, this may math out. But it's probably easier to worry less about buying a new laptop every once in a while, and more about driving a bit less or getting a more efficient car. [1] https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/notebooks/14-inch_MacBook_Pro_PER_Jan2023.pdf https://www.apple.com/environment/pdf/products/notebooks/14-... [2] https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calculator https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gas-equivalencies-calc...

hot_gril 2y ago
We really need rules of thumb like this physically posted in more places. I grew up seeing "be green" signs in school that didn't really tell you how.
- tonyedgecombe 2y ago
  A reasonable rule of thumb is how much money you spend on something. Even if you buy something that is ostensively green your money is still flowing into an economy which isn’t.
  - hot_gril 2y ago
    Yeah, that's what I use if nothing else is available, but in this case the 27 gallons of gasoline costs about 1/10 of the MacBook.
- wilg 2y ago
  Something I would like to see is well regulated “Carbon Facts” on products like nutrition facts.
exitb 2y ago
…which is about as much as commuting to work that’s 5km away for 6 months. Given a ~3 year lifespan of such device, it isn’t such a low amount. And when you decide to get a new, more efficient car, it will have a its own carbon footprint too.
- MonkeyClub 2y ago
  > that’s 5km away Which is about an hour's walk, or about twenty minutes cycling.
  - genewitch 2y ago
    I'm sure someone can remark, given an average of 125W of power in the human, and the CO2 released, which is really just our food post processed into fat and being attached to poisonous oxygen to get it out of our bodies, how much, exactly, carbon is exhaled walking 40 minutes a day.
    - MonkeyClub 2y ago
      Do you mean to say that walking (and by extension exercise) is anti-environmental?
      - genewitch 2y ago
        well, if there's a carbon tax, we exhale carbon, literally, so, yes. p.s. i am being glib.
- wilg 2y ago
  Yes, but getting a more efficient electric car for example typically will “pay for itself” in carbon emission reduction over a couple years. Plus it pushes older less efficient cars out of the bottom of the used market and supports growth of clean technology.
wilg 2y ago
I should add that this represents 6% of the 443 gallons the average car uses per year. https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10308 https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10308 And 20% of the cost is the electricity to use the product, so that should be discounted if you’re comparing buying new to reusing an older computer, and you should compare the power efficiency. Assuming an average four year replacement cycle (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1021171/united-states-electronics-devices-replacement-cycle/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1021171/united-states-el...) and excluding use phase power use, we can napkin math annualize it to 243 * 0.8 / 4 = 48.6 kg co2E ~= 5.5 gallons of gas per year ~= 1.2% of average annual passenger car gas consumption.

by wilg 2y ago

hot_gril 2y ago

We really need rules of thumb like this physically posted in more places. I grew up seeing "be green" signs in school that didn't really tell you how.

tonyedgecombe 2y ago
A reasonable rule of thumb is how much money you spend on something. Even if you buy something that is ostensively green your money is still flowing into an economy which isn’t.
- hot_gril 2y ago
  Yeah, that's what I use if nothing else is available, but in this case the 27 gallons of gasoline costs about 1/10 of the MacBook.
wilg 2y ago
Something I would like to see is well regulated “Carbon Facts” on products like nutrition facts.

exitb 2y ago

…which is about as much as commuting to work that’s 5km away for 6 months. Given a ~3 year lifespan of such device, it isn’t such a low amount. And when you decide to get a new, more efficient car, it will have a its own carbon footprint too.

MonkeyClub 2y ago
> that’s 5km away Which is about an hour's walk, or about twenty minutes cycling.
- genewitch 2y ago
  I'm sure someone can remark, given an average of 125W of power in the human, and the CO2 released, which is really just our food post processed into fat and being attached to poisonous oxygen to get it out of our bodies, how much, exactly, carbon is exhaled walking 40 minutes a day.
  - MonkeyClub 2y ago
    Do you mean to say that walking (and by extension exercise) is anti-environmental?
    - genewitch 2y ago
      well, if there's a carbon tax, we exhale carbon, literally, so, yes. p.s. i am being glib.
wilg 2y ago
Yes, but getting a more efficient electric car for example typically will “pay for itself” in carbon emission reduction over a couple years. Plus it pushes older less efficient cars out of the bottom of the used market and supports growth of clean technology.

wilg 2y ago

I should add that this represents 6% of the 443 gallons the average car uses per year. https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10308 https://afdc.energy.gov/data/mobile/10308 And 20% of the cost is the electricity to use the product, so that should be discounted if you’re comparing buying new to reusing an older computer, and you should compare the power efficiency. Assuming an average four year replacement cycle (https://www.statista.com/statistics/1021171/united-states-electronics-devices-replacement-cycle/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/1021171/united-states-el...) and excluding use phase power use, we can napkin math annualize it to 243 * 0.8 / 4 = 48.6 kg co2E ~= 5.5 gallons of gas per year ~= 1.2% of average annual passenger car gas consumption.