Key takeaways:

• Use as little hardware as possible.
• Use as little electricity as possible.
• Use clean electricity.

Digital Products need hardware and electricity.

Hardware is necessary to build and maintain digital products on the provider side and to use digital products on the user side. This refers to the clients as well as to the infrastructure.

As we know, hardware needs electricity to function. This electricity is a crucial requirement during digital products’ build and use phases, contributing significantly to their energy consumption.

Hardware Use

Key takeaways:

• Hardware is made of physical material.
• Hardware production, use and disposal causes carbon emissions.
• Therefore, use as little hardware as possible. Use the hardware as long as possible. Use it circular.

Embodied Material

A digital product can require various forms of hardware: Laptops, servers, routers, mobile phones, connected appliances, and many more. These devices have a footprint.

Every piece of hardware has to be produced, requiring multiple resources, including water and energy. The sum of all materials used to make and dispose of a device is embodied material.

Embodied Carbon

Carbon emissions will likely be emitted during these devices' production and disposal processes. These emissions can stem from harvesting virgin resources and the energy mix used for production and end-of-life treatment. If fossil energy is used to produce the hardware, more emissions are emitted. The sum of all emissions caused by the production and disposal of a device is called embodied carbon.

Different devices have different embodied carbon levels, and the split between emissions caused by production and use can also be different.