By:Layla Ballou, Nathan Chein, Paulo Lopez, Quang Vuong

Life Cycle Analysis of Laptop Materials

SJSU Engr-103Spring 2015

What is being Studied?Aluminum Chassis vs. Fiber-Glass Chassis

• CPU & RAM of Gallium (Ga)• CPU Fan of Polycarbonate• Power Supply of Aluminum• Typical computer inlet and

outlet chord

Ignores batterylife!

• CPU & RAM of Tin (Sn)• CPU Fan of Nylon-6• Power Supply of Copper• Typical computer inlet and outlet chord

Project Goals• To study LCA of two products to determine which

has a lower CO2 equivalent emissions• To compare laptops containing aluminum/gallium

and copper/fiber-glass/tin materials• To explore two different type of transport

methods: via air and marine mode • To investigate the greatest impacts from SBOM

inputs, types of impact category and best the recycle strategy

Assessment ScopeLife Cycle Stages & Process Flow

Manufacturing Raw materials, extraction and production of

aluminum, gallium, copper, tin, polycarbonate, fiber-glass and nylon 6

Transportation Freighter oceanic and aircraft freight

Use Life Consumable: CO2 emissions during use

Power use: 8 hrs. a day 0.96 kWh/day @ .12 kWh

End of Life Incineration and Recycling

Functional Unit

• Impacts per 1 year of use (kWh)

Reasoning: Year of use is a standard unit of measure when service delivered is measured in time (Battery life neglected).

System Boundary

Eco-Design Strategies

• Choose laptop design with the lowest CO2 equivalent emissions

• Select the transportation method with the least CO2 equivalent emissions

• Select laptop design with the best performance improvement

Eco-Design Expected Results• To reduce overall environmental impacts of both type of

material for laptop production

• Reduction in environmental impact will be great with respect to the reference

• Changes in performance improvement will be great with respect to the reference

Impact per Functional Unit

Aluminum Fiber-Glass

Life Cycle BOM Carbon Footprint

Total Life Cycle Carbon Footprint

Aluminum Fiber-Glass

Life Cycle ImpactAluminum Fiber-Glass

Conclusion and Results• The laptop made of fiber-glass produced less carbon

emissions when looking at the total life-cycle stages• The environmental impacts were minimal in

comparison to the aluminum material• The carbon footprint of fiber-glass was 19 CO2eq kg/

func. Unit. Where as aluminum was 56 CO2eq kg/func. Unit

• There was a 78% performance improvement with the fiber-glass laptop

• The transportation method with the least fossil fuel depletion was via freighter oceanic

• Overall, we found that laptop made with fiber glass was a more environmental friendly product to produce with less impacts

Sustainable Minds Cloud Software

•It is a convenient tool for LCA of any product•It should add more product varieties and combinations•Combination of materials such as Gallium-Arsenide for evaluation was not possible

•Adding parts to subassemblies can also be a challenged•The help menu is not very helpful at all

Thank you!