Chances are you currently have one or more appliances or devices in your house in need of repair. You have a difficult decision on your hands: Do you repair or replace it? Both involve time and money.
An important factor in your decision to buy a new product or fix the one you have is probably the expense. Another is the environmental impact, which isnât always clear. After all, if you buy a new product, youâll have to dispose of the old one. But making endless repairs to an outdated model can expend significant resources.
So, how do you decide which is the âgreenestâ direction to turn? Consider the following points.
The Energy Impact
About 60% of electricity is generated from fossil fuels, such as coal, oil, and natural gas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. These fuels carry massive carbon footprints, adding millions of tons of CO2 to the atmosphere daily. If you can reduce power consumption by recycling an old appliance and buying a new one that is more efficient, you may save money as well as lower the greenhouse gas impact of your household.
The ENERGY STAR program, established by the EPA in 1992, remains the gold standard for evaluating energy and water efficiency in appliances and electronics. The ENERGY STAR website allows you to look up products and their annual energy/water usage, so you can see just how much a new model will conserve. Older devices, especially those manufactured before ENERGY STAR adoption accelerated in the late 1990s, tend to consume significantly more energy than modern models. If your appliance is 15 to 20 years old, upgrading to a certified product could lower your utility bills substantially.
Despite its decades-long track recordâhaving helped Americans save over $500 billion in energy costs while avoiding around 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissionsâthe program has faced repeated political threats. In 2018, the Trump Administration proposed eliminating ENERGY STAR from the federal budget, calling it an unnecessary expense. The move sparked swift, bipartisan backlash. Congress, backed by utilities, manufacturers, and environmental groups, rejected the proposal and preserved the programâs funding, recognizing its high return on investment and popularity with consumers.
In 2025, the Trump campaign renewed its effort to dismantle ENERGY STAR, proposing to terminate the program as part of a broader EPA reorganization. Critics responded immediately: the program costs about $32 million annually but delivers roughly $350 in energy savings for every dollar invested. ENERGY STAR currently saves U.S. households up to $450 a year and benefits both consumers and the climate. Industry response has been strong: over 1,000 companies and utilities signed a letter urging Congress to defend the program and maintain a level playing field in appliance efficiency labeling.
Given ENERGY STARâs long-standing bipartisan support and practical benefits, Congress is again expected to reject the move and keep the program intact.
Itâs unlikely that repairing your existing electronics and/or appliances will have much of an impact on their energy/water usage. But a repair can buy time that may save you money and provide better options when you choose to replace. One more year of higher utility bills to support outdated technology may represent the bridge to bigger savings next year.
Perform a Self-Diagnosis
The internet is the ultimate resource for the do-it-yourselfer. Itâs likely you can find someone to provide you with a free solution for almost any problem. YouTube, for example, returns 76.1 million results for the search âhow to repair.â Everything you need to know when starting a repair is available somewhere on the net.
One DIY resource is Fixitclub.com, which provides repair manuals for everything from cars to window screens. If you can identify the problem and the repair process is five steps or fewer, youâll often find repair is environmentally preferred to the impact of transporting new products from the store, opening/disposing of packaging, and setting up a new product. Some other great resources include the electronics-focused ifixit.com and doityourself.com, a home-and-garden repair guide to a variety of different products that you can repair yourself.
The Warranty Factor
When buying new products, especially electronics, youâll often be asked about purchasing a coverage agreement offering repairs if the product malfunctions. Most products come with a one-year coverage plan, meaning the additional plan is likely provided by the retailer or a third party.
The programs generate lots of profit for retailers because buyers seldom use them fully. While these plans can reduce your need to replace broken products, you still have to consider the environmental impact of shipping a product for repair.
Investigate products with trade-in programs, which will collect your old product for refurbishment and reuse. This means you can own and use the product for a pre-determined amount of time, then return it to the retailer for trade-in value that reduces the price of a new product.
Common trade-in programs for electronics include Best Buy, Amazonâs trade-in service for eligible items, and phone trade-in services for specific brands, including AT&T, Samsung, Verizon, and Apple.
You can always ask about warranty coverage when purchasing a new product, but they are not a guarantee youâll save money or reduce your environmental impact.
Environmental Impact: Repair vs. Replace
The Climate Cost of Manufacturing vs. the Value of Repair
When deciding whether to repair or replace, consider not just the financial cost but also the carbon cost. Manufacturing new appliances requires energy-intensive processes: mining rare earth metals, producing plastics, powering assembly lines, and shipping products around the globe.
When it comes to the environmental impact of our electronic devices, it’s important to consider the entire lifecycle of a product. Each stage, from manufacturing to disposal, contributes to the device’s embodied carbon footprint, which can be much larger than the emissions associated with keeping an older product in service.
A recent lifecycle analysis of small household electronics revealed that repairing and reusing products instead of replacing them can reduce climate-related impacts by up to 40%. This reduction is particularly significant when devices are kept in use for more than 10 years. Another estimate suggests that repairing rather than replacing appliances can cut their environmental impact by as much as 30% annually.
Moreover, every new product that is replaced adds to the growing e-waste problem worldwide. The Global E-Waste Monitor, a project of the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, reported a record 62 million metric tons of e-waste generated globally in 2024. This figure is expected to increase rapidly unless consumption patterns change. Opting to repair devices can help mitigate this waste issue by extending product lifespans and decreasing the amount of reusable materials that end up in landfills.
Choosing repair over replacement also aligns with the goals of a circular economy, which focuses on maximizing the value and life of materials and products. Circular practices help reduce the demand for new resources and prevent premature disposal of items. Even if a newer product is more energy-efficient, the carbon emissions associated with its production and transportation may outweigh the energy savings for several years. Therefore, opting for repairs, even for minor fixes, can help reduce the need for resource-intensive manufacturing processes and promote more sustainable consumption habits.
In most cases, repairing worn or broken appliances is a more environmentally responsible choice than replacing them, unless the device is extremely inefficient or on the verge of total failure. Repairs not only conserve energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions but also combat e-waste more effectively than immediate replacements. When repair is a viable and cost-effective option, it’s not only a smart financial decision but also a greener one for the planet.
By considering the full lifecycle of our electronic devices and prioritizing repair over replacement, we can make a positive impact on the environment and work towards a more sustainable future.
