Design a Mobile Phone using a Streamlined

Life Cycle Assessment for delivery in 2020

Name: Chris Gallagher

ID No. 12076481

Course: B.Eng in Electronic & Computer
Engineering


Supervisor(s): Dr. Colin Fitzpatrick

Due Date: 25
th
November 2013



Electronics and the Environment Final Project - Mobile Phone
Chris Gallagher 12076481
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Introduction
Mobile Phones play an important part in our daily lives, allowing users to make and receive
phone calls, along with other methods of communication (SMS,MMS, E-mail), all around the
world instantly. It is estimated that there is currently over 6.8 billion mobile phone
subscriptions around the world, penetrating about 89% of the global population [1]. With so
many mobile phones being manufactured and used it is essential that it is a sustainable
practice. Sustainability can be described as the ability to endure or maintain indefinitely.
Sustainable development refers to a mode of human development in which the resources are
used to meet human demand while ensuring the sustainability of natural systems and the
environment, so that these needs can be met not only in the present, but also in future
generations to come [2]. The concept of sustainability focuses on a balance between the
environmental, economic and social equity demands of a product.

Over its lifecycle of each mobile phone will have an impact on the environment, the idea
behind this paper is to take the knowledge gained over the semester about different
sustainability issues and the possible solutions and redesign the product so that it is more
sustainable. By examining the product from a lifecycle assessment (LCA) point of view over
all stages of a products lifecycle, it is possible to identify the various impacts each stage of
the LCA has on the environment.



Figure 1shows a diagram of the entire life cycle of a product. The Life Cycle Assessment of a
product begins with the extraction of raw materials, manufacturing, in-use phase and finally
disposal, the manufacturing and use phase usually contribute to the highest impact on the
environment and it is because of this that this paper will mainly be focusing on those two
stages of the lifecycle.
Figure 1 Life Cycle Assessment Diagram
Manufacturing
End of Life
Use Phase Resources
Waste
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Approach Taken
In this particular study, in order to determine the LCA of a mobile phone and how it can be
improved the Apple iPhone 4 was chosen as the baseline product. The iPhone will be broken
down and analysed to establish what the major environmental factors are, the data will then
be displayed in a graph of the Cumulative Energy Demand (CED), clearly shown in which
areas improvement is needed and possible. Once a clear picture of the current design has been
gained it will be possible to re-evaluate and redesign the mobile so that it becomes a more
sustainable product. It is important when redesigning a product for the future to keep in mind
the limitations of technology and feasibility of possible product solutions, but with a few
reasonable assumptions it should be clear that with some minor changes significant
improvements can be expected. Below is an overview plan of how this report is laid out.

1. Baseline Study & Calculations
2. Quantitative assessment, Methodology used, System Boundary, Functional Unit and
Assumptions
3. Description of new product
4. Evaluation of New Product
5. Comparison between Baseline and Improved Scenarios
6. Feasibility of Design and Potential Barriers

Baseline Study and Calculations:
As mentioned above the iPhone 4 by Apple was chosen as the baseline product, the iPhone
was chosen because it was relatively easy to gain information on and is one the most easily
recognised mobile phones on the current market (Other than the faithful Nokia 3310). The
methodology for determining the baseline study was taken from the Streamlined LCA
PowerPoint presentation found on the ET4407 website
1
.

Define your bill of Materials
The first step is to establish a bill of materials for the product. The information for the bill of
materials of the iPhone was taken from the Apple website [3]. Figure 2 displayed below show
the estimated greenhouse gas emissions and the percentage breakdown of the iPhone 4 and all
of its materials. From this it can clearly be stated that the production and customer use has the
biggest impact on the environment, if the impact in either can be reduced even slightly it
would have a dramatic effect on the LCA of a mobile phone

Figure 2 Environmental Impact and Materials Used for iPhone 4

1
ET4407 website link: http://et4407.wordpress.com/
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Energy Cost of the Common Materials
Now with the breakdown of the product materials available it is possible quantitative
calculate the Energy requirement of producing each material. The table used to estimate the
cost of materials production is taken from Vaclav Smil Energy in nature and Society,
General Energetic of Complex Systems [4]. Each of the materials used to create an iPhone
are listed below along with the calculations on the Energy requirements to produce the
material.

iPhone Glass:

Energy Cost of Glass (Mj/Kg) = 25 Mj/Kg

Glass = 25 Mj/Kg 40.9g = 0.8998 Mj/Kg

iPhone Stainless Steel:

Energy Cost of Steel, special alloy (Mj/Kg) = 45 Mj/Kg

Steel = 45 Mj/Kg 38.7g = 1.7415 Mj/Kg

iPhone Battery:

Assumed Lithium Battery for laptops = 925Mj/Kg

925Mj/Kg 24.7g = 22.84Mj/Kg

Iphone Circuit Boards:

The baseline calculations for the iPhone Circuit Boards proved to be the trickiest part
of the assessment as many of the design techniques used are confidential and a
complete breakdown of the components weight or size could not be found. The
ifixit.com [5] website proved to be the most effective means of estimating the type of
the components used and the weights of those components.

As only the Energy cost of microchips and PCB manufacture was available, it is fair
to assume that because the chips cover approximately 40% of the surface area of the
board, then it will account for about 40% of the weight and the remaining 60% will be
accounted for by the PWB. Total weight of the Circuit Board is 15.4g.

o Microchip Analysis:

15.4g 40% = 6.16g it is then assumed that the chip is 200mm Wafer
technology.

200mm wafer technology = 9Kwh/g or 32.4Mj/g
(Note: All energy cost converted to Mj for simplicity)

32.4 Mj/g 6.16g = 0.199Mj/Kg

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o Printed Wiring Board (PWB) Analysis:

15.4g 60% = 9.24g

It is assumed to be manufactured as a 6 layer 2MJ/Kg process = 333Mj/Kg

333Mj/Kg 9.24g = 3.076 Mj/Kg

Board assembly per unit = 130Mj/Kg

Final Assembly per chip = 0.3 Mj/Kg, assumed at least 15 chips

0.3Mj/Kg 15 = 4.5Mj/Kg

Total Circuit Board Energy Cost = 0.199 30.76 + 130 + 4.5 = 137.77Mj/Kg

iPhone Display:

Energy cost LCD Display per

= 3000 Mj. Approx

Total Area of Display = LH = 75mm55mm = 4125

= 0.004125

3000Mj/m
2
4125 = 12.375 Mj/m
2


iPhone Plastic

Energy Cost of Plastic, Polyethylene (Mj/Kg) = 90 Mj/Kg

Plastic = 90 Mj/Kg 3.1g = 0.28 Mj/Kg

Taking the calculated values above and compiling them in Table 1the manufacturing energy
requirement of the iPhone 4 can be calculated. Obviously production of the circuit board has
by far the largest impact on the environment. The next largest environmental impact is caused
by the battery, closely followed by the display. These will be the main focusing points of the
new design.

Table 1 Energy Cost of iPhone 4

Materials Weight (g) Energy (Mj)
Glass 40.9g 0.89Mj
Stainless Steel 38.7g 1.74Mj
Battery 24.7g 22Mj
Circuit Boards 15.4g 137.77Mj
Display 7.2g 12.37Mj
Other 5g N/A
Plastic 3.1g 0.28Mj
Total Weight 135 g 175.05Mj
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Energy Consumption during the Lifetime of the Product
The next step is to calculate the energy consumption of the iPhone during the Use Phase.
The information on a typical smart phone usage phase was taken from the lifehaker.com
website [6]. The typical use phase of a smart phone is estimated to be 18-36 months and it is
estimated that it takes 3.5kWh a year to charge a iPhone or 12.6Mj per year.


Figure 3 Typical iPhone Energy Consumption per Year

Figure 3 taking from the Life-hacker website illustrate the cost and energy consumption of a
typical smart phone. Although the website compares the iPhone 5 and not the iPhone 4 modle
that has been described throughout this report it is fair to presume that the energy
consumption will be more or less the same. Figure 4 graphs the cumulative energy demand
over the entire life cycle of the product.


Figure 4 Cumulative Energy Demand of iPhone 4

0
50
100
150
200
250
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
CED (Mj)
Time (Months)
Original Phone
Original Phone
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Description of new product
The requirement for the new phone is that fulfils the same basic functionality for the
consumer while reducing the negative impact on the environment and improving the
sustainability of the product. There are many possible solutions to the problem of developing
a sustainable mobile phone, for instance what if many people used the one phone, like a
payphone system. Pay phones were once a common site in any major town or city but have
since gone into decline because mobile phones have the advantage of being portable and have
also become very affordable, it is acceptable to say that a payphone type of service could be a
sustainable service, but as mentioned earlier the user would lose functionality and this would
be unacceptable. On the same principal then why do user not have one mobile phone for
several people? In rural areas in Africa it is not uncommon to see a man standing in the
middle of the town with several people lined up all waiting there turning to use the
community cell phone, much the same as the payphone the users would pay for the service of
using the mobile phone. If only 1 in ten people had a mobile but everybody had access to that
phone then there would be a significant decrease in the environmental impact of the mobile
phone industry, but the same as the first idea this would lead to a loss in functionality as the
customer has now become used to having their own phone and being able to keep in connect
with other users at any time instantly. So it is because of these factors that the
communications industry had resolved to supply every subscriber with their own personal
device.

The main ideas for an improved mobile phone design are:

1. PSS (Product Service System) with modular design features
2. Solar screen charging solution to increase time between charges
3. Smart Product charging cycle (Smart Grid capabilities)
4. Implementing RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags recycling scheme
5. Mobile Cloud computing (IMS)

PSS (Product Service System)
The idea of PSS or Product Service System was examined by Damien OBrien and can be
found on his blog [7]. The model behind PSS is that rather than the customer buying the
product they would buy the service of using that product and the supplier would responsible
for managing all of the expenses such as servicing and disposal.
In order to provide a PSS product it is imagined that the consumer will buy the phone on a
contract similar to the one already provided by supplier on a bill pay mobile device. The
proposal is that the consumer will take possession of the product and unless a fault occurs
they will use the phone for a set period of time, after the time period has passed the user will
have different options on how they wish to proceed.
a. Send phone back to supplier, while using a temporary phone, to be routinely serviced.
b. Send phone back to supplier, and get specified component upgrade.
c. Send phone back to supplier, for disposal, and get a new upgraded phone

By implementing a PSS model it is to the advantage of the supplier if the product has a high
lifetime expectancy, low maintenance cost and is easy to service. This would mean the
manufacturer would be inclined to create a better product and forever lay to rest the idea of a
product with planned obsolescence, forcing the consumer to purchase a new product after a
certain amount of time had passed.
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One method for the manufacturer to improve the product is if a modular design was
introduced then the supplier would be able to reprogram the major components such as the
PLDs (Programmable Logic Device) to include new functionality or when the device
becomes obsolete the PLD could be reprogrammed and used in other devices such as audio
Hi-Fi systems and washing machines.

Another way the supplier can ensure lower maintenance costs is to make parts in a common
size and easy to replace. There is a concept design idea referred to a Phonebloks [8], by
designing a phone so using the phone blocks concept it is achievable that the suppile would
be able to remove the old outdated components such as the CPU or display and easily replace
them with newer up-to-date components.

Figure 5 PhoneBloks Concept Idea

Figure 5 demonstrates how the basic concept of the PhoneBloks works, joining the major
components to a central processing board made to easily upgrade and repair. If the mobile
phone industry was to apply a PSS model utilizing the Phonebloks idea, it is feasible to say
that the lifetime of a product would dramatically increase. Furthermore instead of throwing
away the entire device when only one component such as the battery or display break causing
massive amounts of E-waste that needs to be disposed of, the broken component can be
simply replaced and the rest of the device can continue to function as before.
Although it is not all positives to arrange such a service would probably be more expensive
initially and the cost would enviably be passed onto the consumer. Also with technology
evolving as fast as it does, it is reasonable to assume that some components will not be made
to last and become much cheaper as upgrading them would be so easy.


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Solar Panel Screen
An amazing new technology has recently come available that uses a transparent solar panel
placed on top of the touch screen to collect energy from light source to power the phone. The
technology is being research by a small company called Wysips [9] based in France.


Figure 6 Wysips Solar Panel Technology

Figure 6 give you an idea of how the solar panel technology could be used, and it would not
only be limited to the front of the phone, there is no reason that the solar panel could not be
used on the back of the mobile as well doubling the light catching area. One major flaw in
this fantastic design is the fact that solar panel are not transparent, but Wysips recently
reported testing a model that had 90% transparency. The solar panels being used are able to
conduct the photovoltaic process using either natural or artificial light, and when
experimented an old iPhone 4 model it was estimated that for every 10 minutes of use 4
minutes of battery was recovered through the solar panels. This means a 40% increase in time
between charges or a slimmer battery making for a smaller and lighter device. As noted
earlier in the Energy Cost of the Common Materials section the production of the battery is
quite large by reducing the physical size of the battery we are reducing the environmental
impact of each device also. Furthermore this technology is planned to be marketed at the very
reasonable price of $2 per device. Although currently it is not available as it is under research
and development, due to limitations the technology. What's more one major flaw in this
design is that most user keep their mobile device in a handbag, suitcase or pocket where there
is no access to a light source.
Smart Grid Charging
With the role out of Smart Grid technologies the potential to charge your phone will the
demand on the grid is at its lowest or when renewable energy sources are available. This is an
obvious sustainability solution to the charging of mobile phones problem, because it is not
just the amount of energy needed to charge a mobile device that is important but the way in
which that energy is being generated. For example China has a mostly coal based electricity
generation system, which will have an estimated 30 times higher global impact than Norway
with its almost exclusively hydroelectric system.
If products could be designed with Smart grid capabilities then the Smart Product would
know about what is happening in the electric grid. Information on the smart grid can be found
on the following websites
1) http://www.eirgrid.com (CO2 intensity & wind generation)
2) http://www.sem-o.com (predicted wholesale electricity price, predicted system
demand)
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The idea is that the phone would be charged in and would only trickle charge (unless other-
wise specified) until a large source of renewable or cheap energy would become available.
This would help dramatically reduce the environmental impact of charging the mobile
devices. Furthermore it would help take pressure of the electricity grid at peak times. One of
the major setbacks of this system is that most countries, including Ireland, do not have smart
grid technologies and are many years away from implementing a truly smart grid.

RFID Tag Recycling
Disposing of the waste created by the ICT sector has become a major problem as many of the
materials are hazardous and harmful to the environment. By introducing RFID tags
improvements in E-waste management can be achieved by embedding identification and
information of the proper method of disposal for the materials. In addition is the material of a
product sent for disposal can be properly identified, some of the materials can be easily
reused by the manufacturer in the production of new product and this would directly
influence the high demand on the raw materials. A failing of RFID tags is the limited range
that they have and they would likely be many interference problems with this technology.
Besides unfortunately most recycling centre do not have the capability to accurate read all
these RFID tags and so it would just be an extra expense passed on to the consumer.

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Evaluation and Comparison of New Product
With the above improvements in the design process it can be expects that the environmental
impact of the redesigned phone will be less than the Apple iPhone 4. Following are a few
assumption that were made onthe impact that introducing each improvement would have on
the LCA of the mobile phone. Even with the assumption kept at a very conservative level the
impact experience is dramatic.

1. PSS increases the lifetime of the mobile form 3 years to 5 years
2. Solar screen charging solution to increase time between charges for 40%
3. Smart Product charging cycle reduces the global impact by as much at 30 times
4. RFID tags recycling scheme increases recycling potential by 10-15%
5. Mobile Cloud computing (IMS)


Figure 7 Comparison of Cumulative Energy Demand

Figure 7 clearly demonstrate how by using the above assumptions the CED per year of the
device has considerably decreased. This can be further shown in the calculations below.

Original Design

CED/Year

206.55 Mj / 3 years = 68.86
Mj/Year

New Design

CED/Year

225.60 Mj / 5 years = 45.12
Mj/Year
The new design has dramatically reduced the environmental cost of the mobile phone by
about one quarter. This would be a significant saving if introduced to the ever increasing
markets of the ICT sector.



0
50
100
150
200
250
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
CED (Mj)
Time (Months)
Origianl vs. Redesigned Phone
Orinal Phone
Redesigned Phone
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Conclusions

In conclusion the project redesign attempt has been an overall success. Each
improvement suggested will have will have a small impact on the LCA alone but
together there is a significant improvement to the overall LCA and CED/year of the
mobile phone


The object of the report was to develop a mobile phone for use in the year 2020 with
an improved LCA using the knowledge gained over the semester about sustainability
problems and there solutions.

Over the course of the project I have learned many things about sustainability, product
design and research methods that will no doubt prove to be invaluable in the future.
Furthermore I learned a great deal about the social, economical and environmental
issues affected by the ICT sector.

One issue that had to be overcome was the lack of data on the weights of individual
components on a circuit board. This problem was solved by taking a educated guess
form images that were found on the ifixit.com website. Also the numbers ended up
being so small it had very little effect on the overall LCA

Initially when talking about possible improvements to the design the idea of
improving the circuit board was high on the list of priorities, as it has one of the
largest impacts on the environment, but improving the manufacturing process would
be too large a task to complete during this module so a modular design circuit was
implemented meaning that less boards would need to be manufactured.

The final conclusion is that much progress has been made on the topic of mobile
phone improvement, but there is still a huge amount of research that could be done
and many other possible solutions available to use. The report does however layout
some of the better ideas and how those ideas would have an effect on the LCA of the
product.

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