Life Cycle Considerations

New refrigerators and washing machines now carry an energy efficiency label, and we are becoming ever more conscious of the importance of the standby power consumption of televisions, battery chargers and other electronic devices. But it is not just the operation of these devices that produces significant amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2); so too does their production, transportation and their ultimate disposal. We show that these other factors can make a considerable difference to the environmental friendliness or otherwise of an appliance.