Semiconductors to Smart Devices

Capturing the System-Wide Impacts of a Growing 

Internet of Things Infrastructure 

Arman Shehabi, Ph.D.

IoT Advisory Board Member

Staff Scientist

Energy Technologies Area

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

ashehabi@lbl.gov

Department of Commerce Internet of Things 

Advisory Board Meeting 

January 18, 2023
Systems-wide approach to IoT assessment

Data Centers

Data Networks

Electronics Manufacturing

Electronic Waste

Data Transfer 

Example: 

Analysis phases of

a vehicle LCA: 

Autonomous Vehicle

Source: WorldAutoSteel.org
Department of Energy Report (forthcoming in 2023)

3

• Chapter 1: ICT Infrastructure

– Data center infrastructure

– Data network infrastructure

– Connected devices

– Advance computational devices 

• Chapter 2: Electronic Device Manufacturing 

– Life-Cycle Energy and Cost of IC Manufacturing

– Global IC Manufacturing Supply Chain Trends and 

Competitiveness

– Embodied Carbon in the U.S. computer and electronics 

manufacturing sector

– EoL Management and Manufacturing Potentials of eWaste

• Chapter 3: Data Characterization Framework

• Chapter 4 Smart Manufacturing 

– Smart Manufacturing and the Internet of Things in Industry

– Cost to Conserve Energy Framework

– SM and IoT Tech in the Iron and Steel Industry

– SM and IoT Tech in the Automotive Industry

– SM Energy Savings Estimates for Other Industries

The Implications of Advanced Manufacturing in a Connected Economy 

Moving Towards a Smart, Sustainable, and Productive Economy 

Electronics Manufacturing

Information Communication Technology

Smart 

Manufacturing

Autonomous 

Vehicles

Smart 

Buildings Other IoT Artificial 

Intelligence
Challenge of global supply chains

• Manufacturing of electronic components crosses multiple boarders 

• Limited data on manufacturing energy/material use

• Proprietary manufacturing practices

Regional use with global impacts
Challenge of a rapidly evolving technology

• Computer processor efficiency 

– Peak output efficiency doubled energy 1.5 

years since 1950s1

– More recently efficiency doubling takes 

2.7 years2

• Electricity intensity of data transmission

– Observed kWh/GB transfer has decreased 

by half every 2 years3

• Data center workloads and energy

– From 2010 to 2018 power demands rose 

just six percent in the time it took for 

compute instances to jump 550 percent4

Sources: 

1Koomey et al 2011. Implications of historical trends in the electrical efficiency of computing. IEEE Annals of the History of Computing

2Koomey & Naffziger 2015. Moore’s Law might be slowing down, but not energy efficiency. IEEE Spectrum. 

3Aslan et al, 2018. Electricity intensity of Internet data transmission: Untangling the estimates. Journal of Industrial Ecology

4Masanet, E., Shehabi, A., Lei, N., Smith, S. and Koomey, J., 2020. Recalibrating global data center energy-use estimates. Science
Challenge of consequential implications

6

Horner et al., 2016, Known unknowns: Indirect energy effects of information and communication technology. Environ. Res. Lett

• Direct ICT equipment impacts

–Operation energy

– Embodied resource

–Disposal 

• Direct ICT application impacts

– Efficiency

– Substitution

–Direct rebound

• Indirect ICT application impacts

– Indirect rebound

• Structural economic changes

• Systematics transformation

Taxonomy of ICT energy effects

Red effects increase energy use, blue effects decrease energy 

use, and shading intensity decreases as effect scope increases
Initial questions around of IoT assessment

• Sector level IoT applications, growth, and effects

–Smart Cities, Smart Manufacturing, Smart Buildings, etc.

• Equipment & infrastructure needs to meet IoT applications 

• Manufacturing requirements to meet equipment & infrastructure needs 

IoT equipment 

manufacturing IoT infrastructure IoT applications

Data Demand

Equipment Demand