No. 76 - Green ICT, energy and climate change
Communications & Strategies - 16/11/2009
4th Quarter 2009
This issue of C&S is devoted to analysis of the impacts of information and communications technologies (ICTs) on the environment in general, and more particularly on global warming and climate change. It is widely recognised that ICTs are important users of electrical energy and have direct impacts on climate change via their use of electrical energy generated from fossil fuels. Overall ICTs have made major strides in reducing their use of electricity and are among the most efficient devices in terms of performance / electricity use ratios, accounting for 2-3% of total energy use.
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Dossier
Green ICT, energy and climate change
Edited by Lorenzo PUPILLO, Julien SALANAVE & Graham VICKERY
Introduction
By the Editors
Will Broadband Networks Make the World Greener?
Evaluating Pros and Cons of Broadband Development
Orada TEPPAYAYON, Erik BOHLIN & Simon FORGE
ICT and the Environment in Developing Countries:
An Overview of Opportunities and Developments
John HOUGHTON
Climate Change: the Contribution of Telecommunications
Ewan SUTHERLAND
Systematic Analysis of Rebound Effects for "Greening by ICT" Initiatives
Freek BOMHOF, Paula van HOORIK & Maartje DONKERS
Energy Counselling and Modern IT
Drawing on Web 2.0 for a Greener World
Alf WESTELIUS
Interview with
Jørgen ABILD ANDERSEN, Director General,
Danish Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation, National IT and Telecom Agency
Features
Regulation and Competition
• Smart Grids and Privacy
Christopher WOLF & Winston MAXWELL
Firms and Markets
• World Telecom Services Market
Carole MANERO
Public Policies
• The Sustainable City & ICT:
How Does ICT Contribute to the Development of Sustainable Cities?
Philippe BAUDOUIN
Book Review
• Jan FAGERBERG, David C. MOWERY & Bart VERSPAGEN (Eds), Innovation, Path Dependency, and Policy - The Norwegian Case
By Jonathan LIEBENAU
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Will Broadband Networks Make the World Greener?
Evaluating Pros and Cons of Broadband Development
Orada TEPPAYAYON, Erik BOHLIN & Simon FORGE
Key words: broadband, sustainable development, green ICT.
The environmental issue has generally received much attention from the public for decades, especially as a result of heavy industry - electrical energy, oil and gas, mining, steel and metals. Recently, attention has been paid to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its effect on the knowledge and related industries. Broadband, both fixed and mobile, is not an exception. Even though it has been recognized as a factor that has contributed to social and economic development, a negative effect can also be seen in particular regarding the environment. This paper provides a review of how government policy, in particular by the EU and Japan, are moving towards the transition to sustainability by utilizing ICT, as well as an evaluation of the pros and cons of broadband development. There are many complex effects on sustainability due to ICT. Since ICT can have environmental effects both as enabling energy efficiency and causing rebound effects, the policies should respond to both direct and indirect effects. To facilitate policy analysis and recommendations, this paper categorizes ICT impacts by five orders of aggregation. These five orders of aggregation may contribute both positively and negatively to sustainability, and each level will need targeted policies. The five orders of aggregation suggest a comprehensive and long term view of policy development, encompassing even policies that seek to improve the quality of decision making in our societies, by utilizing ICTs.
ICT and the Environment in Developing Countries: an Overview of Opportunities and Developments
John HOUGHTON
Key words: information and communication technology (ICT), environment,
climate change, mitigation, adaptation.
Both developed and developing countries face many environmental challenges, including climate change, improving energy efficiency and waste management, addressing air pollution, water quality and scarcity, and loss of natural habitats and biodiversity. Drawing on the existing literature, this paper presents an overview of how the Internet and the ICT and related research communities can help tackle environmental challenges in developing countries. The review focuses on the role of ICTs in climate change mitigation, mitigating other environmental pressures, and climate change adaptation.
Climate Change: the Contribution of Telecommunications
Ewan SUTHERLAND
Key words: climate change, energy efficiency, green house gases,
telecommunications.
Global targets for reductions in green house gas emissions require that all economic sectors take stock and then act to limit and to reduce their contributions to climate change. Telecommunications is no exception and while it can help other sectors make savings, the expansion of and growing intensity of use greatly increases the attributable emissions. These arise from a wide range of inputs, including travel and transportation, energy to power and to cool equipment. While reporting at the level of corporations has improved, it is neither consistent nor complete. For consumers and businesses there are almost no data on the various services they buy that might inform their own decision making and their own reporting of emissions.
Systematic Analysis of Rebound Effects for "Greening by ICT" Initiatives
Freek BOMHOF & Paula van HOORIK & Maartje DONKERS
Key words: rebound effects, Rapid Assesment Program, greening by ICT,
teleworking.
The application of ICT can lead to considerable reductions in the energy consumption of society. Although ICT itself consumes energy, there are many good reasons to explore the possibilities of 'green ICT'. After decades of experiments and research, ICTs designed to be 'green' still holds the promise of leading to substantial ecological benefits by means of dematerialisation, more efficient production processes and changed (more sustainable) human behaviour.
Up till now, the effects of ICT on energy consumption are much less straightforward due to rebound effects: effects that have a negative influence on the intended positive effect. In parallel, rebound effects themselves have in turn other side effects as well, so there are many interacting effects to account for, greatly adding to complexity of the discussion. Despite evidence that suggests otherwise, initiatives that focus on 'greening by ICT' do not account for a consistent analysis of these rebound effects. This paper proposes an approach that enables to map and analyze these rebound effects systematically. This approach is applied in two related cases, teleworking and the use of Smart Working Centres. The Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) is used as a simulation model to identify which chains of effects are most interesting to consider for intervention. The application in the two cases demonstrates that rebound effects can by structured and that the RAP is a very suitable way to do so and provides a good assessment of net sustainability effects.
Energy Counselling and Modern IT
Drawing on Web 2.0 for a Greener World
Alf WESTELIUS
Key words: communities, sustainability, sector transcendence, energy
counselling, web 2.0.
The aim of this article is to explore how modern IT solutions for collaborative knowledge evolution could lead to more effective energy counselling and increased energy knowledge among the public. Comparative studies have been performed where the focus has been on the prerequisites for effective use of web 2.0 type collaboration and wikis. The research is primarily aimed at actors within the energy sector, although similar developments also take place in other sectors. Targeted investments employing collaborative IT to involve the public in energy counselling could lead to lower energy consumption and an increased consciousness of environmental issues in the society. A conclusion is that web 2.0-like initiatives could play a valuable role in the knowledge development and exchange between energy counsellors, and further the knowledge exchange between the counsellors, the regional energy agencies and the public. They could also help channel an energy interest among the public into a collaborative knowledge production, and contribute to a good quality factual basis for the conceptions that develop in society. This would strengthen both the energy counselling and the energy counsellor corps.
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Jørgen ABILD ANDERSEN has been Director General of the national regulatory authority in Denmark since 1991. Prior to this he worked for the Danish General Directorate of Posts and Telegraphs as Legal Counsel and Deputy Permanent Secretary. With the establishment of the National IT and Telecom Agency in April 2002, his responsibilities were extended to cover the whole policy range within the ICT area. His policy responsibilities include among others privacy, trust and security in the Information Society, eBusiness, eGovernment, eSkills, green ICTs, the national digital signature as well as broadband, DNS and radio spectrum. He has previously served as Chair of the European Commission's Radio Spectrum Policy Group, the European Regulators Group (ERG) and the Independent Regulators Group (IRG). Mr Andersen was recently elected Chair of the OECD's Committee for Information, Computer and Communications Policy (ICCP). He has a Masters degree in Law (1975) from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Philippe BAUDOUIN is a member of the IDATE team since 1991. He heads Public Policy Assessment Practice. His main areas of involvement include: providing local authorities and federal departments with assistance and strategic expertise for defining ICT public policies; assistance in mounting innovative ICT projects with communities of specialised actors, such as education departments and local authorities; ICT project and programme assessment. Philippe is also involved in European projects devoted to local and regional development issues, new ICT-enabled applications and the assessment of action plans, projects and programmes. He is a geographical economist, with an engineer's degree in Regional Development from the Université de Lille 1/ENVAR.
p.baudouin@idate.org
Erik BOHLIN is currently Head and Professor in Technology Assessment at the Division of Technology & Society, Department of Technology Management & Economics at Chalmers University of Technology. He has published in a number of areas relating to the information society – policy, strategy, and management. He is Chair of the International Telecommunications Society; Chief Editor of Telecommunications Policy; Member of the Scientific Advisory Boards of COMMUNICATIONS & STRATEGIES, Info, International Journal of Management and Network Economics, and Nordic and Baltic Journal of Information and Communication Technologies. He obtained his graduate degree in Business Administration and Economics at the Stockholm School of Economics (1987) and his Ph.D. at Chalmers University of Technology (1995).
erik.bohlin@chalmers.se
Freek BOMHOF MSc graduated from the University of Twente in 1990 in Electrical Engineering. He worked several years for the R&D department of the Dutch KPN, holding several positions as researcher, project manager, R&D manager and programme manager. In 2003 he joined TNO, the Netherlands organisation for applied scientific research. In his work for the Innovation Management unit there, he is interested in the way technological innovation interacts with human behaviour. Since 2007, he has been focusing on how ICT can contribute to sustainable development. Currently he is coordinating the research activities within a number of public-private sustainability initiatives in Amsterdam.
Maartje DONKERS, MSc, graduated from the University of Twente in 2001 in Civil Engineering specialized in integrated water management and the environment. She joined Resource Analysis (a consultancy firm working on policy analysis for Water & Coast) and then in 2003, joined the Dutch ARCADIS group, an internationally active leading company in design, consulting and engineering in the field of infrastructure, environment and buildings. There she is involved as project manager and advisor for strategy and decision making. She has contributed to a great amount of projects with interactive processes. She is an expert in the RAP-methodology. In this position, she has conducted numerous RAP analyses on a large variety of topics. She also developed an extension for stakeholder-analysis on the Rapid Assessment Programme.
Simon FORGE has worked for over 20 years in the information industries. He has managed a wide range of assignments in strategy, marketing and business planning in telecommunications, software and computer systems. He has created forecasting tools such as Scenario Construction for Forecasting (SCF) and used current tools for forecasting and data gathering aimed at strategic and tactical decision taking. In delivering, he has managed both multiple global and single teams, be they implementing specific large-scale projects, or ongoing corporate strategy or government policy. He also has hands-on experience in delivering information technology systems, most recently in multi-media mobile applications and for mobile security systems.
Paula van HOORIK graduated in Economic Psychology in 1999 and worked for several years for the R&D department of the Dutch KPN. As a consultant and project manager on usability and customer needs she bridges the gap between users and technology. Since 2008 she has focused on Innovation Management, sustainable development, energy and ICT. She is able to apply future visions in today's practice. Currently she is involved in impact studies on energy use and CO2 reduction.
John HOUGHTON is currently Professorial Fellow at Victoria University's Centre for Strategic Economic Studies (CSES) and Director of the Centre's Information Technologies and the Information Economy Program. He has had a number of years experience in information technology policy, more general industry policy and related economic research. He has published and spoken widely on information technology, industry, and science and technology policy issues. John has led many successful projects on behalf of national and international clients, and has contributed to a number of reports for the OECD of ICT issues. In 1998, John was awarded a National Australia Day Council, Australia Day Medal for his contribution to industry policy development.
http://www.pobox.com/~john.houghton/
John.Houghton@vu.edu.au
Jonathan LIEBENAU, Ph.D., teaches technology management at the London School of Economics. His research interests include ICT policy and economics, innovation management, and telecommunications industry strategy, and technology and economic development. He is affiliated with the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information and his latest publications include "Britain's Digital Road to Recovery" (published by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, 2009), "Achievement in e-Government in the Middle East and North Africa" (OECD, 2009) and (with T. Khiaonarong), Banking on Innovation; modernisation of payment systems (published in the Contributions to Economics series, Springer, 2009).
Carole MANERO is an IDATE Senior Consultant. She is in charge of monitoring the globe's mobile markets, operator (networks, MVNO) and mobile services development. She has also become an expert in spectrum management issues. Before coming to IDATE, Carole worked for the COGEMA's North American corporate strategy department, where she was involved in several acquisition operations in the nuclear sector. She is a graduate of the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales du Nord business school (1991), with a major in Marketing, and holds a Masters in Human Resources and Corporate Management from Paris's Ecole Supérieure de Commerce (1992).
c.manero@idate.org
Winston MAXWELL is a partner of Hogan & Hartson, based in the firm's Paris office. Winston has over 20 years of corporate, regulatory and commercial law experience in France, with an emphasis on communications, Internet, media and privacy law. He advised clients in connection with the first European telecommunications liberalization initiatives in the mid 1990's, and continues to advise alternative operators, regulators, Web 2.0 platforms and media groups on regulatory and transactional matters in Europe. He authored a major treatise on European communications and privacy law (Electronic Communications, the New EU Framework, Oxford University Press), and publishes and lectures regularly on Internet, telecom, privacy and media law. He is an "avocat" with the Paris bar, and an attorney with the New York bar. Winston received his law degree from Cornell Law School in 1985, and chairs the "New Media & IT Task Force" at the American Chamber of Commerce in France.
wjmaxwell@hhlaw.com
Lorenzo Maria PUPILLO is an Executive Director in the Public Affairs Unit of Telecom Italia and Affiliated Researcher at Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. In Telecom Italia, he is working on Next Generation Networks, ICT & Energy, Net Neutrality, Geographic Markets, Functional Separation and is providing Policy Advising to senior management. Currently, he is also coordinator of the policy cluster of the E_Cube project, an Energy Smart meetering system through Zig-bee technology. He is an economist by training and has worked in many areas of telecommunications demand and regulatory analysis, publishing papers in applied econometrics and industrial organization. He has also been Advisor to the Global Information and Communication Technologies Department of the World Bank in Washington. Before joining Telecom Italia in 1992, he was member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey. Dr. Pupillo also serves on numerous committees for international organizations and on scientific and advisory boards around the globe. He earned a Ph.D. and an M.A. from University of Pennsylvania, an MBA from Istituto Adriano Olivetti in Ancona Italy and a MS in Mathematics from University of Rome.
Julien SALANAVE leads telecoms research and advisory activities at IDATE. He manages a team of 15 analysts helping operators and equipment vendors assess innovation trends impacts on their businesses. Julien advises senior executives at leading global operators and vendors across Europe and Asia. He has co-authored high profile reports "European Telecoms 2015", "Next Generation Carrier Models", "Mobile VoIP: has the time come?", "Green Telecoms" and frequently speaks at industry conferences. Before joining IDATE, Julien was a venture capitalist at Newbury Ventures and Apax Partners, an investment banker at UBS Warburg and a strategy consultant at Monitor Company.
Ewan SUTHERLAND is an independent telecommunications analyst working on strategy and policy issues related to ICTs. He studied at the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde and taught at the Universities of Stirling, Wales, Wolverhampton and Westminster. He served several years as Executive Director of the International Telecommunications Users Group (INTUG).
Orada TEPPAYAYON is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology. She obtained her bachelor degree in Law from Thammasat University and her Master of Law from Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. From 2005 to 2008, she worked as a legal assistant to the Commissioner at the National Telecommunications Commission of Thailand.
Graham VICKERY is currently head of the Information Economy Group and programme director for OECD information technology, ICT and environment, digital content, e-business and ICT-related employment programmes, and the OECD Information Technology Outlook. His responsibilities include information economy, environment, growth and employment, public sector information, intangibles and intellectual capital, new technologies, industry performance, and industry globalisation. Graham is author of numerous OECD publications and articles and has presented papers at many international conferences on the environment, information economy, technology strategies, sector developments and government policies. He has written books and articles on information technology, digital content industries, public sector information, business services, environment industry, globalisation, advanced manufacturing technology, information technology development and diffusion, technology and investment, high tech industries and work organisation.
Alf WESTELIUS is a professor in Economic Information Systems at the Linköping University, Sweden, and consultant to private, public and non-profit organisations. His research centres on change processes and conditions for attaining sustainable change. Related areas include strategic applications of IT, learning, knowledge management, management of change and project management. One of his current research projects concerns energy counselling, communities of practice and ICT-facilitated collaboration.
Alf.Westelius@liu.se
Christopher WOLF is a partner in the Washington, DC Office of Hogan & Hartson LLP, where he leads the firm's privacy and data securitypractice. He also is co-chair of theFuture of Privacy Forum, a non-profit Washington, DC think-tank focused on emerging privacy issues. Chris is a widely-published author on privacy law and policy and speaks at law schools, professional organizations and at other venues internationally.
http://www.futureofprivacy.org/
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