Design Life-Cycle

Materials:

Becky Zhao

Ana Panaligan, Jennie Le

DES 40A

Professor Cogdell

PAO Portable Lamp (Mushroom Lamp) Raw Materials

Mushroom lamps, which are essentially fungi shaped lamps, are making their trendy comeback to households. Originally from the 70’s, the mushroom lamp was meant to give a playful element to houses, but it’s connection to nature was what made it boom (Hrabi). But what are the materials to make this funky looking lamp? Although there are many methods and materials to creating mushroom lamps, I will focus on Hay’s PAO portable lamp, explaining the raw materials used in this product in the various stages of the life cycle, focusing more on raw materials acquisition, and the manufacturing, processing, and formulation stage.

Raw Materials Acquisition:

The main components that bring this mushroom lamp together is the base and lamp shade, the base insert, the LED bulb, the Micro USB cable as well as the Lithium-ion battery.

For the base and lamp shade, the materials that are used are to make these parts are the polycarbonate and ABS Plastic. Both are thermoplastic polymers, which are commonly made from petroleum which is made from crude oil (Rogers; Shen et all).

In regarding the LED lightbulb, there wasn’t information on the raw materials on the corn LED bulb, which is used on the PAO lamp, but usually LEDs are made from semiconductors which are made of gallium arsenide, a byproduct of aluminum or zinc (Melcer; Waferworld).

Micro USB cable is made up a connector (which is made up of circuit board, shells, and a plastic backing material), wires, and an outer layer to protect the wires (Electronic Notes; Bytecables). The raw materials in making those components are glass fiber for the circuit board (which is made up of silica, limestone, soda ash, borax), copper for the wire, and PVC (derived from salt and crude oil) (Cameron and Rapp; Lenntech).

For the Lithium-Ion Battery, there are 3 parts that make up the battery which is the cathode, anode, and electrolytes. Materials that are used for the cathode is cobalt, nickel, and manganese to make a layered lithium metal oxide. For the anode part of the battery, metals like graphite, lithium, or silicon can be used. In the materials for electrolytes, there are 3 types, which include liquid, polymer, or solid-state electrolytes. If a polymer electrolyte is used, most likely crude oil will be a raw material in the making of it, but if one decides for a liquid electrolyte, then uses of chemical compounds like lithium bis(oxalato)borate are used (Claus).

Manufacturing, Processing and Formulation:

On the manufacturing process of Polycarbonate, Bisphenol-A as well as Phosgene are used to make a reaction due to a process in a polymerization process. Color can be added in polycarbonate by adding a colorant which can be made in several ways, but if it was made by other polymers, it can be inferred that more crude oil will be used (DeMeuse).  For ABS Plastic, it is made using a similar process of polymerization or emulsion but with styrene, acrylonitrile, and polybutadiene, and it will be made into pellets (Fast Radius).  In both plastic making processes, a common material used is petroleum (Shen et al).

From the polycarbonate and ABS pellets, they will be transported to be used in the injection molding process. In this process, they will be melted and then it’ll be transferred into an aluminum mold of a desired shape (Rogers).

For the making of Micro USB cable, copper is pulled to make thin wire and gets coated in plastic, to then be braided and trimmed. Solder, which is made from a mix of alloys with metals tin, lead, zinc, is then applied to connect to the connector and the wires (Gale and Totemeier). Afterward goes a series of internal injection and external injection molding which PVC and plastic SGP are combined with the cable (Bytecable).

In manufacturing the LEDs, there was dense information mentioned, but in the best way I can explain it, semiconductors wafers are made with a mix gallium arsenide and liquid boron oxide to make a solution to where a rod is then dipped to make these crystals that get slices. These slices get layered and then some sort of metal gets evaporated on it. Metal rods will be attached to the sliced and gold wires are soldered to the evaporated metal. Lastly, it’ll be sealed in plastic and epoxy resin (Melcer).

In the Lithium-ion Battery, extra materials like copper or aluminum are used through the manufacturing process when the electrolytes are mixed with solvents, and binders and then they are spread in this foil (made of aluminum) and for the anode part, they use copper. After that step, all the materials get welded together to soon be charged and to be able to be used (Claus).

Distribution and Transportation

 In the transportation sector, the lamp is made in China, and it gets transported with presumably airplanes or trucks as most products are (Hay). The fuel that these vehicles are mostly made using crude oil. In terms of distribution, the lamp is packaged in corrugated cardboard which are mainly come from pine trees, where they get stripped and then pulped, and uses corn starch glue and vegetable oil to create the corrugated layer with a waxy layer (Miller). There is also some shrink wrap to cover the cardboard, which is made of polyethylene, which starts from crude oil (Secrest).

Use, Re-Use and Maintenance

For the Use, Re-Use and Maintenance part of the life cycle, there’s a few items to note. The lamp uses a lithium-ion battery which helps with the recharging of the lamp, it is said that you can get 10 hours of use before you must use the USB cable to recharge it (Hay). The USB cable can also be reused for other devices that are compatible with the Micro-USB cable for charging purposes. For the LED bulb, it is said that the light can be used for 25,000 hours before being replaced. In the product sheet of the product, it is also stated that this lamp can be used indoors and outdoors as it is a portable lamp. Maintenance wise, you need to store the lamp inside and you can use a damp cloth and detergent to the product (Hay).

Recycling and Waste Management

There isn’t much information on recycling this specific lamp, but knowing some of the materials of it, there is some information on recycling. For polycarbonate, according to Azo Materials, it is hard to recycle and is not biodegradable, so it can be inferred that this will be thrown in the trash.

But there is a process that takes the rejected extra polycarbonate from the machine, and it’ll go through the whole injection molding process to make regrind (Azo Materials; Rogers). The downside to this recycled polycarbonate is that the more you grind the plastic again, the performance of the plastic will degrade, so plastic will soon be disposed of sooner or later (Rogers). Since ABS plastic goes through this same process, it can be said that they will also go through the same process and how it’ll be trashed in the end.

Conclusion

Though the portable lamp might be a current trend due to its connection to nature, this simple mushroom-shaped lamp uses a variety of materials. From the use of crude oil, which is a common raw material used in many stages of the life cycle like the raw materials acquisition and transportation, to a variety of metals like aluminum, steel, copper for the cable and the use of molds for the manufacturing process. Through learning about the raw materials of this fun lamp, we can get an idea of what sorts of materials is illuminating living rooms.

Works Cited:

Azo Materials. “Polycarbonate (PC) (C15H16O2) Plastic Recycling.”Azom. Azo Materials, 11 Dec. 2012, https://www.azom.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=7963.

Bytecable. “USB Cable Manufacturing Process.” Bytecable, 3 May 2015, https://www.bytecable.com/usb-cable-manufacturing/.

Claus, Daniel. “Materials and Processing for Lithium-ion Batteries.” JOM, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, vol. 60, 2008, pp. 43–48. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-008-0116-x.

Cameron N.M, and C.F Rapp. “Fiberglass”, edited by K.H. Jürgen Buschow, Robert W. Cahn, Merton C. Flemings, Bernhard Ilschner, Edward J. Kramer, Subhash Mahajan, Patrick Veyssière, Encyclopedia of Materials: Science and Technology, Elsevier, 2001, pp. 3142-3146, https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-08-043152-6/00558-1.

DeMeuse, Mark. “Overcoming Plastics Coloring Challenges.” Omnexus, 21 May 2018, https://omnexus.specialchem.com/tech-library/article/overcoming-plastics-coloring-challenges.

Electronic Notes. “PCB Manufacturing Process: how are PCBs made.” Electronics Notes, https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/constructional_techniques/printed-circuit-board-pcb/pcb-manufacturing-process.php.

Fast Radius. “Know your materials: Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS).” Fast Radius, 15 Apr. 2021, https://www.fastradius.com/resources/know-your-materials-acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene-abs/.

Gale, W.F., and T.C Totemeier. “Soldering and brazing.” Smithells Metals Reference Book, 8th ed., 2004.

Hay, Pao Portable Lamp Product Fact Sheet. https://cdn.accentuate.io/6967030415396/1646818856185/Pao-Portable-Lamp.pdf?v=0. 

Hrabi, Dale. “The Mushroom Lamp Trend: Why the '70s Icon Is Ruling Interior Design Again.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 24 May 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/mushroom-lamp-trend-70s-interior-design-icon-11653411252.

Lenntech. “Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC).” Lenntech, https://www.lenntech.com/polyvinyl-chloride-pvc.htm.

Melcer, Leslie. “Light-Emitting Diode (LED).” How Products are Made, vol. 1, Advameg, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Light-Emitting-Diode-LED.html.

Miller, Robert C. “Corrugated Cardboard.” How Products are Made, vol. 1, Advameg, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Corrugated-Cardboard.html.

Rogers, Tony. “Everything You Need to Know about Polycarbonate (PC).” Everything You Need To Know About Polycarbonate (PC), Creative Mechanisms, 21 Aug. 2015, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-polycarbonate-pc.

Rogers, Tony. “Everything You Need to Know about ABS Plastic.” Everything You Need to Know About ABS Plastic, Creative Mechanisms, 13 Jul. 2015, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-abs-plastic.

Rogers, Tony. “Everything You Need to Know about Injection Molding.” Everything You Need To Know About Injection Molding, Creative Mechanisms, 21 Dec. 2015, https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-injection-molding.

Shen, Maocai, et al. “(Micro)Plastic Crisis: Un-Ignorable Contribution to Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change.” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 254, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120138.

Secrest, Rose. “Plastic wrap.” How Products are Made, vol. 2, Advameg, http://www.madehow.com/Volume-2/Plastic-Wrap.html.

Wafer World. “What is Gallium Arsenide?” Wafer World, 11 May 2015, https://www.waferworld.com/post/what-is-gallium-arsenide.

Valco. “Polycarbonate (PC) – Manufacturing Process of PC.” Valco, 13 Oct. 2021, https://www.valcogroup-valves.com/faq-2/polycarbonate-pc-manufacturing-process-of-pc/.

 


Energy:

Jennie Le

Becky Zhao & Ana Panaligan

DES 40A

Professor Christina Cogdell

PAO Portable Lamp - Embodied Energy

The mushroom lamp is a retro lamp design that was a popular interior design choice in the late 1960s and 70s. The trend has resurfaced recently with different designs, and among them is the PAO Portable Lamp, designed by Naoto Fukasawa. The lamp is advertised to be environmentally sustainable with its LED light. However, with the modernization of this lamp design, there will be different amounts of energy used during its lifetime compared to its past mid-century designs. In this paper, I will address the general energy consumption throughout the lamp's life cycle, from acquiring its raw materials to its disposal.

My research has limitations due to the need for more information about the lamp. The assessment of the different energy consumptions is a general estimate of the energy consumed as a whole rather than an estimate of the energy it takes to make the lamp itself. Because the PAO Portable Lamp is a very niche product, accessing specific information and its exact energy consumption without assuming the general processes was difficult. 

The first life cycle stage will address the general energy consumption while acquiring raw materials for the lamp. The PAO Portable lamp comprises three main components: polycarbonate, an LED light bulb, and a lithium-ion battery. Polycarbonate is a material sourced from petroleum, or crude oil. Fracking petroleum uses mechanical energy to drill into underground oil reserves. Once drilled, a pump is used to extract the oil. After extraction, the petroleum needs to undergo refinement, which requires the oil to be separated and distilled by superheating. These processes are energy intensive because of the use of heavy machinery. Due to a lack of detailed information on the specific source of polycarbonate used in the product, it was impossible to find the specific methods of crude oil refinement used and the units of energy consumed. The LED light bulb used in the lamp consists of raw materials such as aluminum, zinc, gold, silver, and copper. Extracting aluminum from bauxite requires a relatively low energy input and uses less than 5 kWh of electricity per tonne of bauxite extracted. The ore then goes through the refining process and the Bayer Process to extract the alumina from the bauxite, which consumes around 14.5GJ per tonne of alumina and 150kWh/t Al2O3 of electrical energy. Acquiring zinc includes mining, smelting, purification, and transportation. These processes make up the energy demand of zinc, which consumes around 37,500 MJ per tonne. Gold and silver production also consumes a significant amount of energy, using energy sources of coal, fuel oil, gas, gasoline, and electricity. The energy requirement for silver production is estimated at 13,000 kWh of electricity to produce one net ton of silver from silver ore. On the other hand, the extraction of gold requires around 32,000 kWh/t of energy. The lithium-ion battery typically comprises lithium, cobalt, and other elements. Lithium extraction requires 1300−2800 MJ/tonne of lithium concentrate from brine. In general, the overall processes of mining, extracting, purifying, distilling, etc., are very energy-intensive and make up a significant percentage of the embodied energy of the lamp.

The production processes are the second stage of the PAO Portable Lamp life cycle. Once the raw materials are acquired, they are put through various machinery to produce the product. The polycarbonate is molded through polycarbonate injection molding, which uses a significant amount of mechanical, thermal, and electrical energy to function. The polycarbonate plastic granules are fed into the heating barrel, which gets heated from 250 to 320℃ and melted. The energy consumption at this stage requires 0.2-0-0.35 kWh/kg. The melted plastic is then injected into the mold cavity in the shape of the desired product. This manufacturing process consumes about 0.9-1.6 kWh/kg to produce plastics. In addition, while the machines are idle, they will consume 50-75% of the energy of the operating machine. This idle energy consumption is due to its barrel heating, hydraulic pumps, and auxiliary equipment. The production of the lithium-ion battery involves a very complex procedure that requires many steps. The facilities that make these batteries use up to 50–65 kWh of electricity per kWh of battery capacity, which is a large difference compared to polycarbonate plastic. The most significant step of the manufacturing process that consumes the most energy is the drying/solvent recovery step, which constitutes 46.84% of the total energy consumption, with 6.22 kWh per cell. The dry room step also contributes a significant amount, constituting 29.37% of the total energy, with 3.9 kWh per cell. All other steps of the manufacturing process constitute at most 6% of energy and less. However, the total energy consumed during lithium-ion battery manufacturing is still relatively high.

In contrast, the manufacturing of LEDs does not use as much energy as polycarbonate plastic and lithium-ion batteries. The making of the LED chip requires thermal and mechanical energy, where the semiconductor material is grown in a high-temperature chamber and purified, mixed, and liquified with other elements. Factory machinery is used to do the rest of the work, separating and packaging the chips into individual packages. Manufacturing LEDs have become more efficient, which has reduced the amount of energy consumed. Overall, the combined energy consumed during manufacturing adds up to very high energy input and accounts for a significant portion of the lamp's embodied energy.

The next phase is distributing and transporting the PAO Portable Lamp to the consumer. The product is made in China and sent to the HAY stores located in Europe and other countries. The shipping method from China is unspecified, but it can be assumed that the products are shipped on a container ship to other countries. According to the company's shipping and delivery information page, smaller items are shipped to consumers through FedEx. The energy consumption of a FedEx delivery truck varies by the load it carries and the type of vehicle. Because of FedEx's commitment to carbon-neutral operations, it is assumed that shipping will either be by an electric vehicle or a gas-powered truck. Hybrid-electric trucks typically consume about 0.4 kWh per mile, while traditional gas-powered trucks consume about 0.125 to 0.167 gallons per mile. Compared to other life cycle stages, the transportation stage does not contribute a significant percentage of the embodied energy of the lamp.

The next stage of the life cycle is the usage phase. The lamp's lifespan is at least 25,000 hours, with a 3W LED. This means the total energy consumption throughout the lamp's lifespan is at least 75,000-watt hours (Wh). This is a significant amount of energy for a small lamp. However, the lamp can be used for 10 hours at a time before it needs to be recharged, allowing the user to use the lamp at least 2,500 times before the LED needs to be replaced. This stage only uses electrical energy to charge and switch the lamp on. Assuming that the consumer takes good care of their lamp, they save much energy by reusing it rather than continuously buying new light sources or replacement parts because of its durability.

The final stage of the lamp's life cycle is the energy consumption of the product's disposal. Polycarbonate is a type of thermoplastic that can be recycled. However, due to its other additives and paint, its properties complicate the recycling process because it would take lots of energy to separate. Some processes include introducing other reactants to the polycarbonate to reduce it into more recyclable plastics. Since polycarbonate is made with BPA, the waste that comes from the hydrolysis process can negatively affect the environment. However, due to the lamp's high-gloss finish and paints, it may be too complicated to recycle. Because of this complication, the product is in landfills or incinerated rather than recycled. The same could be said about recycling lithium-ion batteries. It is not recommended to recycle lithium from batteries because, considering current technology, the energy it takes to recycle lithium from its battery consumes 38-45% more energy than it takes to produce the battery. Although the battery cannot be efficiently recycled, the LED within the lamp can. It can be recycled by crushing and separating the metals so they can be reused to make new LEDs. If the lamp is not recycled, it will likely be incinerated or thrown into a landfill. The waste generally does not account for a large percentage of the lamp's embodied energy.

This paper has discussed the general energy consumption of the PAO Portable Lamp and how much energy is needed throughout acquiring raw materials, production, transportation, usage, and disposal. The lamp is advertised to be sustainable, but the embodied energy consumption is observed to be significant, especially during the extraction of raw materials and manufacturing. In conclusion, from the lamp's life cycle assessment, the PAO Portable Lamp is not entirely environmentally sustainable based on its embodied energy, but it can last a long time.

Full Bibliography

2012, G.P. ThomasJul 16. “Recycling of LED Lights.” AZoCleantech.com, 14 Oct. 2020, https://www.azocleantech.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=249.

AG, interstruct. “Energy Efficiency.” Mining and Refining – Energy Efficiency, https://bauxite.world-aluminium.org/refining/energy-efficiency/.

Davidsson Kurland, Simon. “Energy Use for Gwh-Scale Lithium-Ion Battery Production.” Environmental Research Communications, vol. 2, no. 1, 2019, p. 012001., https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7620/ab5e1e.

Energy and Environmental Profile of the U.S. Department of Energy. “Gold & Silver.”

“Fedex Commits to Carbon-Neutral Operations by 2040.” FedEx Newsroom, FedEx Newsroom, 24 June 2022, https://newsroom.fedex.com/newsroom/asia-english/sustainability2021.

Golroudbary, Saeed Rahimpour, et al. “The Life Cycle of Energy Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Critical Minerals Recycling: Case of Lithium-Ion Batteries.” Procedia CIRP, vol. 80, 2019, pp. 316–321., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procir.2019.01.003.

Iea. “International Shipping – Analysis.” IEA, https://www.iea.org/reports/international-shipping.

Kelly, Jarod C., et al. “Energy, Greenhouse Gas, and Water Life Cycle Analysis of Lithium Carbonate and Lithium Hydroxide Monohydrate from Brine and Ore Resources and Their Use in Lithium Ion Battery Cathodes and Lithium Ion Batteries.” Resources, Conservation and Recycling, vol. 174, 2021, p. 105762., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2021.105762.

“LED Lights Manufacturing Process.” EGLO, https://www.eglo.com/uk/led-lights-manufacturing-process-how-led-lighting-is-made.

Liu, Yangtao, et al. “Current and Future Lithium-Ion Battery Manufacturing.” IScience, vol. 24, no. 4, 2021, p. 102332., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2021.102332.

“PAO Portable Lamp Product Fact Sheet.”

“PC (Polycarbonate)Plastic Injection Molding Process.” Moldchina, https://www.moldchina.com/post/pc/.

“Petroleum.” Education, https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/petroleum/.

“Polycarbonate (PC) Recycling - Reclaim Plastics.” Reclaim Plastics - Plastics Recycling Services in Burnaby, BC, 4 Aug. 2021, https://reclaimplastics.com/materials-we-recycle/polycarbonate-recycling/.

RGM. “Facility Energy Use Summary - Overview.”

Van Genderen, Eric, et al. “A Global Life Cycle Assessment for Primary Zinc Production.” The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, vol. 21, no. 11, 2016, pp. 1580–1593., https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-016-1131-8. 

Waste:

Ana Panaligan

Jennie Le & Becky Zhao

DES 40A

Professor Christina Cogdell 

Pao Portable Lamp Waste & LCA

The PAO collection of lamps is a collaboration between Japanese designer Naoko Fukasawa and Danish furniture and home accessory company HAY. With a soft adjustable LED light and a smooth, glossy plastic design, the lamp is a sleek and modern revival of mid century aesthetics. The lamp is advertised as portable because it is rechargeable by micro USB. Additionally, it’s advertised as environmentally sustainable because of its energy-efficient LED light and easily interchangeable parts (“Hay Lighting”). LED lighting is known to be more efficient than other lights (U.S. Department of Energy), and interchangeable parts reduce waste. But there are many other aspects of the lamp’s life cycle that have environmental impact. Although the Pao portable lamp’s LED light is relatively waste-free, the wastes of lithium extraction, the greenhouse gasses emitted by plastic manufacturing, and the end-of-life waste of the lamp are important and unsustainable parts of its life cycle.

The whole life cycle of the plastic lamp includes all of the materials in the parts and packaging. According to the manufacturer fact sheet, these parts include the lamp base (injection moulded polycarbonate with a high gloss finish), the lamp shade (injection moulded polycarbonate with a high-gloss finish and a matt frosted polycarbonate diffuser), a micro USB cord (PVC), and the base insert (injection moulded ABS). There is also a 3.6 V rechargeable lithium ion battery and a 3 Watt LED light. The product also comes in a cardboard box with plastic shrink film. This life cycle analysis first covers material acquisition (extracting fossil fuels for plastics, lithium mining for the battery, deforestation for the cardboard), focusing on the wastes of lithium mining. Then, manufacturing is discussed (refining fossil fuels to plastics, and manufacturing the other parts), looking closely at how plastic manufacturing releases greenhouse gas wastes. After manufacturing, transportation is briefly discussed, noting that there was not a lot of information available. The use/re-use/maintenance phase involves energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. And finally, the materials are discarded or recycled, which can create more wastes such as heavy metal pollution or more greenhouse gases. 

During the raw material acquisition phase, fossil fuels and lithium are extracted for plastics and the lithium ion battery. Trees are also cut for cardboard. The lithium mining process especially makes huge amounts of polluted wastewater. According to Emit Katwala in Wired, lithium extraction is “a relatively cheap and effective process, but it uses a lot of water – approximately 500,000 gallons per tonne of lithium.” In lithium extraction, water pumped from underground reservoirs is left in evaporation pools where the materials dry out in the sun (Vera et al.). About 90% of the water used for evaporation pools is lost to evaporation - 100 to 800 cubic meters per ton of lithium carbonate (Vera et al.). This water use impacts some communities where water is scarce, like the Atacama Desert region of South America, where there is the so-called “Lithium Triangle” of lithium-rich countries: Argentina, Bolivia, and Chile. This affects water resources for farming and drinking water. There are not good records of water waste in these communities, but scientists are raising alarms (Vera et al.). Evaporation pools also use toxic chemicals such as hydrochloric acid, which can be emitted to soil and water. Cobalt is also one of the minerals from brine that pollutes the local ecosystem. Katwala writes that the Lithium Triangle is polluted with chemicals from evaporation pools that leach into soil and groundwater. Fossil fuel extraction involves many raw materials and some greenhouse gas wastes, but there was not good concrete data for this part. Trees are cut to make paper for the cardboard, but again, it was difficult to find how much for one cardboard box. After the lithium, fossil fuels, and tree pulp are extracted, they are used to manufacture plastic, lithium ion batteries, LED lights, the USB cord, and the packaging.

In the manufacturing stage of the PAO lamp’s life cycle, plastics, batteries, LEDs, and packaging are made and the product is assembled in China (“Product Fact Sheet”). Life Cycle Analysis from sources shows some environmental impacts in manufacturing for batteries and LEDs, but nothing as impactful as plastic manufacturing. In fact, LED manufacturing is considered relatively eco-friendly (Department of Energy). There was not good information on manufacturing of the lamp itself. There are two main plastics in the lamp: ABS and polycarbonate (“Product Fact Sheet”), and the manufacturing of these plastics comes with greenhouse gas emissions. There are also plastics in the shrink wrap (PVdC, PVC, or polyethylene) and the USB cable (PVC) (Gibbens). “Plastics are synthetic organic polymers, which possess a backbone consisting entirely of C-C bonds, and the raw materials mainly come from fossil fuel, coal, oil and natural gas.” (Shen et al.).  Refining primary raw materials is the main source for greenhouse gas emissions - about 68 million tons of CO2 equivalents to the emission of plastic production in 2015 (Shen  et al.). According to Plastics Europe, 1 kg of ABS and 1 kg of polycarbonate emit 3.4 kg CO2 equivalent and 3.1 kg CO2 equivalent. This means that there is a mix of greenhouse gases coming from these processes, but it has the same global warming potential as 3.4 or 3.1 kg CO2. The lamp weighs about 1 kg and is mostly made of plastic, so each lamp has at least 3 kg greenhouse gas emissions from the plastic manufacturing. Although this is not sustainable, it is not much waste for a product that can be used for many years. For the other plastics in the shrink wrap and USB cable, they also have greenhouse gas emissions. We do not know what is in the shrink wrap but it could have about 2 kg (PVC), 3.8 kg (PVdC), or 1.87 kg (LDPE) CO2 equivalent emissions (Plastics Europe). These come from smaller parts of the product, so they do not have as big of an impact. Cardboard box manufacturing emits about 2.0 kg CO2 equivalent per 1 kg box as well (Ketkale and Simske).

There is not much information available about the manufacturing locations, except that the lamp was made in China and ships from Sweden, Canada, and the US. This means that the transportation phase may also cause more greenhouse gas waste. This includes transportation from lithium mines to lithium ion battery factories, from oil reserves to plastic factories, and finally to the lamp manufacturer in China. Then, the lamp is transported to Sweden, where it is taken by barge to be sold or shipped in the United States. These wastes are not usually thought about but they can be significant. According to National Geographic, “The huge cargo ships that carry almost all the world’s cross-border cargoes burn a low-grade fuel that contains 2,000 times more sulfur than regular diesel; in the U.S., heavy trucks (tractor-trailers) and buses make up just around one percent of vehicles, yet produce over 20 percent of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.”

There is one waste that happens during the use/re-use/maintenance phase of the life cycle of the Pao lamp. That is the greenhouse gases burned from energy use. A Department of Energy study estimates that a LED light emits about 114 kg equivalents of CO2 over its use phase. However, LED lights are the most efficient lights and have the lowest environmental impact, compared to halogens, incandescents, and CFLs.

In the final stage of the PAO lamp’s life cycle, the lamp is discarded, recycled, or upcycled. The lamp has multiple parts that can be discarded or recycled. The biggest impact at the end-of-life phase comes from spent lithium ion batteries, which contaminate soil and water with heavy metals like Co, Ni, and Mn, and also the very toxic and flammable hydrogen fluoride. Improperly discarded lithium ion batteries have caused explosions before, because of the hydrogen fluoride (Jacoby). By far the largest impact in the life cycle assessment by Mahmud et al. for a lithium ion battery is “marine aquatic ecotoxicity.” The authors write that this is mostly from hydrogen fluoride. Lithium ion batteries can be recycled, but it is difficult to find information about how efficient these recycling plants are. The plastic parts can also become waste. This waste can become microplastic pollution or even emit more greenhouse gases as it degrades (Shen et al.). According to Plastics Europe, recycling is common for plastics that are high volume and don’t need sorting, like 5 gallon reusable water bottles. According to Shen et al., “Only a small percentage of ‘recyclable’ plastic wastes are recycled into the original products, even the most easily recycled plastics.” The high gloss paint, and potential additives and fillers will make recycling more difficult, not to mention that the lamp can’t be easily disassembled. The lamp’s plastic parts will probably not be recycled. Instead, the lamp may be incinerated for energy recovery (which emits greenhouse gases but generates some energy) or left in a landfill (which results in pollution to air, soil, and especially groundwater) (Shen et al.). The LED light may also be recycled, but if not there are a range of metals in the parts that can create dangerous wastes in landfills (U.S. Department of Energy). Shrink wrap is not recyclable, because it gets caught in machinery. Discarded shrink wrap has similar issues to other plastics. It is famously known to be eaten by confused fish in the ocean, and it can emit the toxic chemical vinyl chloride (if the shrink wrap is PVC or PVdC) (Gibbens). Cardboard is relatively easy to recycle. The box probably contains about 50% recycled cardboard already (Ketkale and Simske). So recycling the lamp is complicated because of its many materials, but recycling the battery is the most important way to reduce waste. One way to avoid end-of-life waste from the plastic is to upcycle the lamp - re-use it to build something new with a different purpose.

There were some gaps in the research of the Pao lamp life cycle. It was difficult to find information about all of its parts, including the “high gloss finish,” the usb cable, and the charging port. The fact sheet of the lamp didn’t have very detailed information about the materials or where all of the pieces were manufactured. We didn’t find out where the lithium or fossil fuels were extracted. This made it impossible to get good estimates for waste during the transportation phase. 

The Pao portable lamp, advertised as eco-friendly for its nontoxic, efficient LED lights, still has some unseen wastes in its life cycle, including waste during lithium extraction, greenhouse gas emissions from manufacturing, and potential waste at the disposal/recycling stage. Although consumers should be aware of these wastes in the lamp’s life cycle, there are ways to reduce them. The wastes of lithium extraction can be reduced by recycling the lithium ion batteries. Although recycling may cause more greenhouse gas emissions, it will reduce the effects of water scarcity and toxic pollution. Additionally, the lamp can be used for a long time. When it is no longer used, it can be reused by other people or up-cycled into a different product. It is not all gloom and doom for the PAO lamp. Its environmental wastes point to deeper issues in the consumer economy - issues with lithium ion batteries and plastics that are used for a broad range of different products.

Full Bibliography

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