So, you know, yeah, there’s this new iPhone that came out and it seems pretty neat and all of that. But it got me thinking about the fact that my phone is only about a year and a half old (technically it’s only 6 months old because it was replaced because of a cracked case) and that’s not a long time to own anything that seems like it’s so energy intensive to create.
I guess my questions are; how much energy (in raw materials, material delivery, material creation, parts assembly and ultimately delivery) does it take to build an iPhone? And really any phone. And then what happens to the phone that I stop using as a result of getting this new phone? If disposed of properly, what parts are re-used? Which parts are “destroyed?” What parts end up in land fills? How much energy is consumed or wasted doing that? What are the environmental effects of those parts?
All this frenzy for the new phone makes me think of what is said about buying the latest, greatest, “environmentally friendly” car; the best thing you can do if you’re going to use a car is to buy a used one. I wonder if it’s the same for the phone.
Anyway, I’m not terribly militant on the subject or anything, but I do wonder . . . a lot of people are going to be throwing away phones for newer ones . . . what’s the real cost?
