3. Sources of impact for some electrical engineering processes

This section aims to provide a preliminary context for addressing the environmental impacts associated with these processes. Before describing these impacts, it is essential to understand the complexity of electrical engineering components. Indeed, the diversity and complexity inherent in these components make life cycle assessment studies particularly complex. What's more, the flows involved in electrical engineering are highly diversified, adding a further layer of complexity to the analysis. Among the specificities of this field are the heterogeneity of components, materials and processes (several hundred steps to manufacture a power transistor), as well as the integration of numerous components (several hundred for an inverter) and their exposure to ageing according to their use.

Using a few examples, this section presents the material and energy flows associated...