The case for accurate lifetime accounting in carbon metrics

What is it about?

To represent the entire carbon footprint of computing devices, carbon metrics often include both an embodied cost (i.e., carbon cost to produce the device) and an operational cost (i.e., carbon cost to run the device). The embodied carbon cost is typically high, but it is amortized over the lifetime of the device. In this vision statement, we argue that for carbon metrics to be useful, we need (i) accurate metrics for lifetime, which are challenging for SSDs, and (ii) correct reasoning about carbon costs when using such metrics.

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