Estimate electronic waste generated and the embodied carbon in device replacement.
Manufacturing accounts for most of a device's lifetime emissions, so annual impact is the embodied carbon divided by how long the device is kept. Extending a laptop from four to five years cuts its annual footprint by a fifth. Keeping devices longer reduces emissions more than any efficiency gain in a new model, because the manufacturing cost is paid up front regardless.
E-Waste
Annual impact = device embodied carbon ÷ replacement interval, summed across devices
Annual impact = device embodied carbon ÷ replacement interval, summed across devices Manufacturing accounts for most of a device's lifetime emissions, so annual impact is the embodied carbon divided by how long the device is kept. Extending a laptop from four to five years cuts its annual footprint by a fifth.
Keeping devices longer reduces emissions more than any efficiency gain in a new model, because the manufacturing cost is paid up front regardless.
This calculator takes 5 inputs: Phone replacement interval, Laptop replacement interval, Other devices in the household, Other device lifespan, Share properly recycled. The pre-filled defaults are a realistic starting point — replace them with figures from your own environment for a result you can act on.