Higher percent CO2 from Making (vs. operating) can be better!
Do these sustainability folks understand math?
When they make statements like "making an average laptop releases 580 pounds of carbon dioxide... amounting to 77 percent of the total carbon impact ... during its lifetime", do they consider how utterly meaningless that percentage is? Pounds: fine. Percentage of total: stupid.
Think about it. If a device used ZERO energy to operate, the act of making it would emit 100% of the total carbon footprint, and that would be the best possible machine if manufacturing CO2 impact is all the same. And, a truly inefficient device that used huge sums of electricity could boast that their manufacturing CO2 emissions are only 10% of the lifetime total impact, even as their device produces outrageous amounts of CO2 when operating.
Obviously extending the useful lifespan of ANY electronic device will be a good thing. But, implying that a high percentage of total CO2 impact from just device manufacture is bad is actually just bad math. Comparing such percentages is useless. Total CO2 lifetime impact in actual C02 kilograms emitted is all that matters.