Sustainability and Electronics

Since the 1990s, the scientific and industrial communities have been developing the concept of life cycle assessment (LCA) for products and services. LCA procedures, standardized in the ISO 1404x series of standards, are advancing environmental product assessments toward greater precision, comparability, and specificity. However, challenges remain that require further research. In particular, the climate emergency calls for the development of accurate models of the carbon footprint of digital technologies. The doctoral dissertations by Olivier Weppe and Pierre Le Gargasson address this challenge by developing “bottom-up” parameterized models (starting with technologies to deduce their impacts) and “top-down” (starting with the impacts of manufacturing industries to attribute impacts to products brought to market). All of the ESOS theses also construct LCAs for various products - such as sensors, antennas, audiovisual services, power supply systems, and embedded systems - to support their eco-design efforts.