Low Carbon Cloud Computing: Repurposing Old Smartphones

The report outlines a UC San Diego and Google-backed initiative to create a low‑carbon cloud by repurposing up to 2,000 retired Pixel smartphones into clustered 'phone servers.' Researchers plan to remove nonessential components, install a universal Linux distribution, and use Kubernetes to orchestrate groups of 25–50 devices into reliable compute clusters (dubbed RAIS or 'Junkyard Computing') to support university coursework and reduce embodied carbon; the project targets an autumn 2026 launch and emphasizes environmental benefits and technical approaches for large‑scale smartphone stress testing.