32 research outputs found
Is repairability enough? Big data insights into smartphone obsolescence and consumer interest in repair
No full textA dominant narrative surrounding smartphone lifespans suggests that their objective functional capabilities
deteriorate rapidly and that if only devices were more repairable consumers would use them longer thereby
reducing demand for new production and e-waste generation. Here we use a big-data approach to help unpack
this narrative and examine two related yet distinct aspects: smartphone performance and obsolescence, and
consumers interest in repair. Examining over 3.5 million iPhone benchmarking test scores, we reveal that the
objective performance of devices remains very stable over time and does not rapidly deteriorate as common
wisdom might suggest. In contrast, testing frequency varies substantially. This discrepancy suggests that factors
other than objective performance meaningfully influence consumers’ perceptions of smartphone functionality
and obsolescence. Relatedly, our analysis of 22 million visits to a website offering free repair manuals revels that
interest in repair declines exponentially over time and that repairability does not necessarily prolong consumer’s
interest in repair. Taken together, our findings indicate that non-technical aspects, such as mental depreciation
and perceived obsolescence play a critical role in determining smartphone lifespans, and suggest that focus on
the technical aspects of repairability as currently discussed by policy makers is unlikely to yield the desired
extension in smartphone lifespan. We propose that sustainability advocates try to avoid narratives of planned
obsolescence which might have counterproductive impacts on perceived obsolescence and consumer’s’ interest
in repair, and instead highlight how well devices perform over time. More broadly, this work demonstrates the
potential of using novel datasets to directly observe consumer behavior in natural settings, and improve our
general understanding of issues such as planned obsolescence and repair
How will retired electric vehicle batteries perform in grid-based second-life applications? A comparative techno-economic evaluation of used batteries in different scenarios
No full textThe adoption of electric vehicles is increasing in a global trend toward decarbonization, yet the overall sustainability of these vehicles still poses many questions. The sourcing of many critical raw materials in battery production and their poorly-defined end-of-life management are among the underlined environmental challenges. The sustainability of battery placement in the transportation system in this sense needs to be supported by circular end-of-life strategies. While battery recycling for a secondary supply can be more favourable for pro?ducers, reuse disposition is regarded as being more environmentally attractive from a holistic lifecycle perspective. Cascading the life of batteries as such to reduce the environmental burdens is considered by both regulatory and industrial bodies. However, the uncertainties in cost breakdown and reliability of repurposed batteries reflected in naïve second-life market alignment and financial justification are barriers to current reuse policies and practices. For batteries with a variable lifetime subject to technical constraints in every application, the financial dynamics which underpin the choices of how and where to deploy them are challenging to investigate. While present studies make static assumptions about battery lifetime and operating costs, this work develops a dynamic investigation by incorporating battery degradation in hosts of different second-life applications into the financial analysis. This goal is approached by estimating the lifetime of the batteries in cascaded applications, and further evaluating their second-life contribution to energy and non-energy services in power systems. Findings indicate that settling on a lower purchase price for retired batteries and reducing the number of energy trading results in a justifiable return-on-investment. For batteries in early-failure vehicles such as 4-years-old, this arrangement is equally profitable compared to new ones when going below 26% of the original battery cell price, yet for older batteries such as 10-year-olds, the best performance is expected when contributing to grid services while keeping the investment value below 15%.</p
Is shifting from Li-ion NMC to LFP in EVs beneficial for second-life storages in electricity markets?
No full textWhile electric vehicles are promising to reduce carbon emissions on the road, from a holistic life-cycle view, further environmental considerations in the production and end-of-life management of their batteries are required. Recently, circular end-of-life thinking has been promoted with strategies to increase retired batteries’ lifetime through second-life as lifetime extension is typically favoured in life cycle assessment. However, standardization of these strategies toward recycling or repurposing paths is recommended for different Li-ion chemistries. This categorization mainly concerns the cobalt-containing cathode Li-ion batteries i.e., NMC which is the dominant technology for transportation, and the alternative technology i.e., LFPs with a more recent attention toward them in automobile sector due the cobalt scarcity in the supply chain. This technology shift will impact their end-of-life management at the retirement. In this arrangement, the economic priority of repurposing such battery chemistries needs quantification. This study evaluated the financial return of repurposing retired Li-ion NMC and LFP batteries for energy arbitrage applications in power systems. The feasibility of repurposing is examined in the Irish and Queensland’s markets. Results show that retired Li-ion LFPs respond to price fluctuations more frequently with a higher financial return compared to NMCs; thus, they have higher potential for repurposing as such their greater integration in new vehicles is promising from a circular economy perspective. Different rates of return have been observed for various sizes of systems and battery durations. The financial benefits are more prominent for a one-hour battery in a medium system compared to half and two-hour durations and a smaller system. A sensitivity analysis shows that even spending the same capital cost as a new system for a repurposed system results in a marginal financial return in a competitive electricity market like Queensland’s, whereas further incentives toward circular-enabling business models from local authorities will effectively make such investments feasible. </p
Is repairability enough? Big data insights into smartphone obsolescence and consumer interest in repair
No full textA dominant narrative surrounding smartphone lifespans suggests that their objective functional capabilities
deteriorate rapidly and that if only devices were more repairable consumers would use them longer thereby
reducing demand for new production and e-waste generation. Here we use a big-data approach to help unpack
this narrative and examine two related yet distinct aspects: smartphone performance and obsolescence, and
consumers interest in repair. Examining over 3.5 million iPhone benchmarking test scores, we reveal that the
objective performance of devices remains very stable over time and does not rapidly deteriorate as common
wisdom might suggest. In contrast, testing frequency varies substantially. This discrepancy suggests that factors
other than objective performance meaningfully influence consumers’ perceptions of smartphone functionality
and obsolescence. Relatedly, our analysis of 22 million visits to a website offering free repair manuals revels that
interest in repair declines exponentially over time and that repairability does not necessarily prolong consumer’s
interest in repair. Taken together, our findings indicate that non-technical aspects, such as mental depreciation
and perceived obsolescence play a critical role in determining smartphone lifespans, and suggest that focus on
the technical aspects of repairability as currently discussed by policy makers is unlikely to yield the desired
extension in smartphone lifespan. We propose that sustainability advocates try to avoid narratives of planned
obsolescence which might have counterproductive impacts on perceived obsolescence and consumer’s’ interest
in repair, and instead highlight how well devices perform over time. More broadly, this work demonstrates the
potential of using novel datasets to directly observe consumer behavior in natural settings, and improve our
general understanding of issues such as planned obsolescence and repair
Estimating job creation potential of compliant WEEE pre-treatment in Ireland
No full textWhile significant focus has been placed on the environmental and health impacts of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) treatment, a gap exists with respect to job creation in WEEE treatment. The creation of employment opportunities, and especially of decent work, is an important factor in the growing green and circular economies. This research investigates potential job creation in the Irish WEEE pre-treatment sector by
examining the labour requirements at a certified e-recycling facility which conducts all necessary pre-treatment processes, as detailed in the WEEE Directive, and is currently treating 75% of Ireland’s WEEE. The study developed and executed a method of estimating the mass of WEEE associated with full-time job equivalencies per category treated. Through observation and measurement of the methods and time required for each of the pretreatment steps and using categorisations of WEEE established by United Nations University to assign weights per unit, it was determined that between 338 and 1,967 tonnes were required to equate with one full-time job for the categories large household appliances (LHA), CRT/LCD/LED screens, microwave ovens, and mixed waste. Subsequently, the results were applied in order to estimate the foregone jobs due to untreated WEEE arising in scrap metal collections. It was found that diversion of this waste to a WEEE pre-treatment facility would result in the creation of more than 12 jobs. This research opens doors to further investigate job creation across European Union (EU) member states and globally using the straightforward and consistently applicable and adaptable methods developed here
Characterizing IT asset disposition flows for the circular economy
No full textUnderstanding flows of resource-rich electrical and electronic equipment throughout its life cycle is increasingly important in the development of global circular economies, reflected by heavy legislative focuses on waste prevention and resource use efficiency. This research facilitates broader material flow analysis by characterizing flows of professional IT equipment within the Republic of Ireland, emphasizing the flow of legal exports for the purposes of refurbishment and reuse. The analysis of transboundary movement of non-waste used equipment contributes to a less often measured, but influential, facet of material flows. Eight key exporters of used equipment, comprising original equipment manufacturers, information technology asset disposition companies, and waste treatment facilities, were interviewed to characterize the sector, map the flow of materials, and identify gaps in existing reporting. Interviewed organizations declared exports of used equipment by category using a voluntary declaration form. Two key flows were identified representing currently unreported and unmeasured flows of non-waste professional equipment. A total of 441,261 units of equipment were declared to be exported for reuse from the Republic of Ireland through these previously unmeasured flows in 2019. Product keys developed by United Nations University were used to estimate the weight of total units exported as approximately 576 metric tons, amounting to an additional approximately 9% of the weight of IT equipment collected in the Republic of Ireland in 2018, or 0.1 kg per inhabitant. These quantifications of IT equipment exported for reuse will be a key component of future material flow analyses in the development of a circular economy. </p
Estimating the availability of energy storage capacity from used electric vehicle batteries on a national scale
No full textMoving toward a zero-carbon transport system accelerates the diffusion of batteries in society
through electric vehicles. This so-called “clean transport”, as kind as it is to the environment during its
lifetime, could be a burden for waste management at end of life if not managed properly. A circular
waste management system, alternatively, suggests exploring the appropriate actions and policies to
create the right environment for the second use of end-of-life batteries. A temporal estimation of the
remained capacity in end-of-life electric vehicle batteries enables us to find the fitting second-use
applications. This paper will present a model which has been developed for Ireland which combines (i)
predictions for the adoption of electric vehicles by class, (ii) vehicle lifetime estimates based on a
combination of current EV & ICE vehicles, and (iii) estimation of end-of-life battery generation and
associated reuse capacity. The model computes a range of scenarios to estimate the potential
availability of EV batteries for secondary use in Ireland out to 2050. Our estimation shows that a scale
of several ten, several hundred, and a few several thousand megawatt-hour energy capacities would
be available by 2050 in small, medium, and large class vehicles
Treasured trash? A consumer perspective on small Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) divestment in Ireland
No full textSmall Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (sWEEE) is a particularly
problematic category of electronic waste. A growing body of research indicates that sWEEE
tends to be either stockpiled or disposed of improperly (references). However, despite this,
little attention has been given to the meanings people ascribe to their electronic and electrical
possessions; meanings which continue to apply even when they are disused or broken. The
purpose of this study was to generate insight into this area and to identify opportunities for
intervention to increase sWEEE recycling. A quasi-ethnographic approach was used to
investigate sWEEE disposal behaviour from the perspective of Irish consumers. The rationale
for this approach was the need to reconcile the policy perspective on sWEEE with the
subjective experiences and interpretations that drive people’s behaviour. The findings reveal
that from the time electronic and electrical devices enter consumers’ lives until their disposal,
they exist in fluid in-between states of meaning and have perceived value. Before divestment,
sWEEE typically undergoes a four-stage journey: a) once electrical and electronic equipment
(EEE) is no longer used, it tends to be either consciously stored or abandoned in the home
(inactive EEE); b) a trigger prompts consumers to divest of the inactive EEE (critical
moment); c) provoked to take action, consumers must decide precisely what to discard and
how (transition from EEE to WEEE); d) consumers decide to recycle or not (divestment).
The paper concludes by discussing the implications of these findings in terms of encouraging
increased sWEEE recycling
Quantifying used electrical and electronic equipment exported from ireland to west africa in roll-on roll-off vehicles
No full textThe investigation on the transboundary shipment of used and waste electrical and electronic equipment from developed countries is a well-studied subject with regard to the environmental and health impacts in the destination countries when it reaches end-of-life. Prior research has ranked Ireland the 8th highest source of used electrical and electronic equipment (UEEE) into Nigeria, with roll-on roll-off (RoRo) vehicles as the largest carrier (Odeyingbo 2017). This study presents the first comprehensive port of origin estimation of UEEE export shipments from Ireland in RoRo vehicles. This was obtained by using a ‘person in the port’ involving vehicle and enforcement document inspections at the Ringaskiddy port in Cork, Ireland. By scaling sampling data to annual shipment figures, it was estimated that 17,319 kg of UEEE are currently exported from Ireland annually and that around 1 in 5 vehicles exported contain UEEE. Additionally, the type of UEEE and frequency of shipments show certain equipment are high in demand at destination country. By using the Nigerian second-hand websites, the annual shipments were valued at approximately €147,225. The results obtained from this study suggests a significant reduction in UEEE exported from previous studies and highlights an opportunity for further research in additional ports of origin, as well as the examination of the shipping process, cost, and verification of functionality. Additionally, the straightforward methods provide better understandings of UEEE flows as this is significant to all stakeholders concerned with the regulation, enforcement, and safety of UEEE shipment
Hazardous exhaust gas monitoring using a deep UV based differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) system
No full textA fibre-optic sensor for the monitoring of hazardous exhaust gases is described. The sensor based on Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy was developed to operate within exhaust environments, monitor several exhaust gases and demonstrate low susceptibility to interferences from other gases. Experimental results describing the calibration of the sensor against a commercial analyser and tests documenting the sensor’s operating capabilities within the exhaust of an engine are presented. The lower limit of detection for the sensor was found to be 5ppm for nitric oxide, and 1ppm for both nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Response times were found to be 3.4 seconds.PUBLISHEDNot peer reviewe
