Smartphones are able to tackle a wide variety of tasks that would otherwise be divided into many separate devices, each having its own carbon footprint. As a consequence, smarthphones have largely replaced or reduced the consumption of:[1]
- Communication devices (land line telephones, beepers, walkie-talkies. etc)
- Cameras
- Video recorders
- Laptop and desktop computers
- Radios
- Portable audio players (Walkmans, Discmans, iPods, mp3 players, boomboxes, etc)
- Landline phones and pagers
- Flashlights
- GPS receivers
- Clocks (wristwatches, alarm clocks, stopwatches, etc)
- Calculators (including scientific calculators and graphing calculators)
- Gaming devices (Game Boys, etc)
- Voice recorders
- Paper (agendas, calendars, maps, letters, encyclopedias, newspapers, dictionaries, notebooks, documents, address books, tickets, handbooks, etc)
- Mirrors
- Metronomes and tuners
- DVD players
- Flash drives
- Remote controls
- eBook readers
- Police scanners
- Cards (credit cards, IDs)
- Banking devices (ATM)
- Keys (for cars)
- Gambling devices (slot machines, etc)
- Levels
- Light meters
- Decibel meter
- Data acquisition devices
- Spectral light meters
- Compass
- Tape measure and rulers
- Pedometers
- Speedometers
External links[edit | edit source]
- Nörmann, N., & Maier-Speredelozzi, V. (2016). Cost and Environmental Impacts in Manufacturing: A Case Study Approach. Procedia Manufacturing, 5, 58–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2016.08.008
- CE Delft. (2021, December 3). Carbon footprint of unwanted data-use by smartphones. Branch. https://branch.climateaction.tech/issues/issue-3/carbon-footprint-of-unwanted-data-use-by-smartphones/
- Wikipedia:Jevons paradox
- Radiation detection - Check out comments about how to calibrate any phone to do it
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Maybe the consumption of some of these devices has actually increased since the arrival of smartphones, but surely their consumption would be much higher without smartphones.