Research shows that smartphones are the most destructive environmental factors

A recent study shows that smartphones and data centers will be the most damaging communications and information technologies for the environment by 2040.

Researchers from McMaster University in Canada studied carbon traces of consumer devices such as smartphones, laptops, tablets, and desktop computers as well as data centers and networks. communication in 2005.

They not only discovered that software is promoting the use of information and communication technology (ICT), but also found that ICT has a greater impact on emissions than we think and most of the emissions are from production and operation.

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Research shows that smartphones are the most destructive environmental factors Picture 1

Mr. Lotfi Belkhir, an associate professor at McMaster, said: "We see that the ICT industry in general has grown but it is still increasing. Today the level of pollution that ICT creates is only about 1.5%, but If this trend continues, ICT will account for 14% worldwide by 2040, or the pollution rate is about half of the entire transport industry worldwide.

For each text message, every phone call, each video you upload or download, there is a data center that will perform this operation. Telecommunication networks and data centers consume a lot of energy to serve you and most data centers continue to be powered by electricity generated from fossil fuels. That's the energy consumption we don't see . "

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Research published in the Journal of Cleaner Production shows that by 2020, the most harmful devices for the environment are smartphones. While smartphones consume less energy to operate, 85% of the pollutant emissions are caused by smartphone manufacturing. Smart phones' chips and motherboards require the highest amount of energy to be produced because they are made of precious metals that are exploited at a high cost.

Moreover, the life time of smartphones is quite short, just by looking at the way we use the phone, it is understandable, not many people use smartphones for 5 or 7 years but often tend to "live" as soon as New, more modern phones come out, usually about 2 to 3 years. This promotes the production of new models, and creates much more emissions.

"Anyone can buy a smartphone and telecommunications companies that make it easy for users to get a new phone after two years of use. We find that by 2020, power consumption is The amount of smartphones will be higher than personal computers and laptops, "Belkhir said.

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