Toward Environmentally Sustainable Mobile Computing Through an Economic Framework

Amid the plethora of initiatives and research endeavors targeting the minimization of power and energy consumption of information and communication technologies, what has been largely missing is an effort to reduce the energy consumption and electronic waste generated by the rapidly growing segment of mobile computing and communication devices. Prior work with energy efficiency in mobile devices has primarily focused on the goal of maximizing battery life of these devices and not on the broader concept of environmentally sustainable mobile computing. This paper provides an overview of the concept of environmentally sustainable mobile computing and identifies reduction in manufacturing energy costs and electronic waste generated as two important outcomes that can be achieved by increasing device lifespan. Increased device lifespans, however, are possible only if the underlying market forces support such a paradigm shift. This paper develops an analytical economic framework as it applies to mobile phones by analyzing a market scenario of two firms competing under a differentiated Bertrand duopoly model. The framework and its analysis helps verify intuitions about the reasons that affect a firm's decision to offer an environmentally sustainable choice for consumers and considers the feasibility, possible benefits, and challenges in increasing device lifespan, including technical challenges. The results of this paper also provide guidance on the relative impacts of various factors involved on device lifespan such as user-experience, subsidies, and differences in underlying costs to providers.