This work presents an estimation of the global electricity usage that can be ascribed to Communication Technology (CT) between 2010 and 2030. The scope is three scenarios for use and production of consumer devices, communication networks and data centers. Three different scenarios, best, expected, and worst, are set up, which include annual numbers of sold devices, data traffic and electricity intensities/efficiencies. The most significant trend, regardless of scenario, is that the proportion of use-stage electricity by consumer devices will decrease and will be transferred to the networks and data centers. Still, it seems like wireless access networks will not be the main driver for electricity use. The analysis shows that for the worst-case scenario, CT could use as much as 51% of global electricity in 2030. This will happen if not enough improvement in electricity efficiency of wireless access networks and fixed access networks/data centers is possible. However, until 2030, globally-generated renewable electricity is likely to exceed the electricity demand of all networks and data centers. Nevertheless, the present investigation suggests, for the worstcase scenario, that CT electricity usage could contribute up to 23% of the globally released greenhouse gas emissions in 2030.

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Background, aim, and scope During the last decades, the electronics industry has undergone tremendous changes due to intense research leading to advanced technology development. Multiple life cycle assessment (LCA) studies have been performed on the environmental implications of consumer electronics. The aim of this review is to assess the consistency between different LCA studies for desktop computers, laptop computers, mobile phones and televisions (TVs). Materials and methods A literature study was conducted covering some key LCA contributions to the consumer electronics field. The focus is primarily on global warming potential during 100 years (GWP100) efficiency in different life cycle phases and secondarily on primary energy usage/ electricity usages which are normalised per year to find inconsistencies. Results The life cycle impact assessment GWP100 results for consumer electronics over the years suggest that most studies are of comparable quality; however, some studies are neither coherent nor transparent. Published LCAs for mobile phone and TV sets are consistent, whereas for laptop and desktop computers, the studies occasionally give conflicting messages. Discussion The inconsistencies appear to be rooted in subjective choices and different system boundaries and lifetime, rather than lack of standardisation. If included, the

Here attributional life cycle assessments (LCAs) for the same smartphone model are presented by two different organizations (Orange, OGE and Huawei, HuW) and the effect of different modeling approach is analyzed. A difference of around 32% (29.6 kg and 39.2 kg) for CO2e baseline scores is found using same study object and sector specific LCA standard, however, different metrics, emission intensities, and LCA software programs. The CO2e difference is reduced to 12% (29.9 kg and 33.5 kg) when OGE use HuW metrics for use phase power consumption and total mass, and when HuW use OGE metrics for gold mass and silicon die area. Further, a probability test confirms that present baseline climate change results, for one specific study object modeled with two largely different and independent LCA modeling approaches, are comparable if both use the European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) LCA standard. The general conclusion is that the ETSI LCA standard strongly facilitates comparable CC results for technically comparable smartphone models. Moreover, thanks to the reporting requirements of ETSI LCA standard, a clear understanding of the differences between LCA modeling approaches is obtained. The research also discusses the magnitude of the CO2e reduction potential in the life cycle of smartphones. OPEN ACCESSChallenges 2014, 5 410