Evan Connell | Sustainable Technology Strategist · Education Systems Designer
Digital Education Systems

There's a concept worth understanding called planned obsolescence. This is the point at which a device is deemed no longer viable, not because it has physically worn out, but because the software ecosystem has moved on. Here's the sustainability challenge with that. Roughly 80% of a laptop's entire carbon footprint is generated before it ever reaches a classroom. It's in the mining, the manufacturing and the supply chain. This is what we call embodied carbon. So when we retire a device that is physically functional, we're not just discarding plastic and metal. We're writing off an enormous environmental investment, and triggering the creation of another one. The conversation we need to be having in education technology isn't just about what the latest device is. It's about how we maximise the life of the devices we already have. Because sometimes the most sustainable technology decision, is the one that extends existing hardware for longer.