The Grey Side of ICT

The information and communication technologies (ICT) have a profound impact on economy and environment. The performance improvements in ICT lead to increased consumption of ICT products and services, which had numerous environmental im-plications on different levels.The author points to the analogy between the rebound effects in energy sector and the growth effects in ICT. A multilevel taxonomy of rebound effects is taken from the energy economics literature in order to structure the discussion on the environmental implications of ICT. Rebound effect studies from the energy sector can provide valu-able insights into the causes of the environmental impacts from ICT.The paper distinguishes two levels of environmental impacts from ICT. The first re-lates to the life cycle of ICT hardware. The second relates to the way the ICT applica-tions are being used. The paper reveals the complexity of the environmental impacts and stresses the decisive role of human behaviour. The issues presented in the paper are highly relevant to any decision makers, who tend to place too many expectations on ICT without being aware of the potential environmental implications

[1]  P. Berkhout,et al.  Defining the rebound effect , 2000 .

[2]  J. Romm,et al.  The Internet Economy and Global Warming , 2000 .

[3]  Klaus Fichter.  Sustainable Business Strategies in the Internet Economy , 2001 .

[4]  Lorenz M. Hilty,et al.  Resource Intensity and Dematerialization Potential of Information Society Technologies , 2000 .

[5]  Eric Williams,et al.  Energy analysis of e-commerce and conventional retail distribution of books in Japan , 2001 .

[6]  Lee Price,et al.  Digital economy 2000 , 2000 .

[7]  Chris Hendrickson,et al.  Disposition and End-of-Life Options for Personal Computers , 1998 .

[8]  L. Reisch.  The Internet and Sustainable Consumption: Perspectives on a Janus Face , 2001 .

[9]  H. Scott Matthews,et al.  Economic and Environmental Implications of Online Retailing in the United States , 2001 .

[10]  Larry W. Canter,et al.  Environmental Impact Assessment , 1995 .

[11]  D. Greene,et al.  Energy efficiency and consumption — the rebound effect — a survey , 2000 .

[12]  ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF ELECTRONIC PRODUCTS USING LCA AND ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT , 2000 .

[13]  Friedrich Hinterberger,et al.  ECO-INFO-SOCIETY Strategies for an Ecological Information Society , 2009 .

[14]  R. Hischier,et al.  Environmental impact of electronic and print media: television, Internet newspaper and printed daily newspaper , 2001 .

[15]  M. Binswanger.  Technological progress and sustainable development: what about the rebound effect? , 2001 .

[16]  J. Koomey.  Rebuttal to testimony on 'Kyoto and the internet: The energy implications of the digital economy' - eScholarship , 2000 .

[17]  L. G. Brookes,et al.  Energy efficiency and economic fallacies: a reply , 1992 .

[18]  E. Brynjolfsson,et al.  Computing Productivity: Firm-Level Evidence , 2003 .

[19]  Richard E. Brown,et al.  Electricity used by office equipment and network equipment in the U.S.: Detailed report and appendices , 2001 .

[20]  J. D. Khazzoom,et al.  Economic Implications of Mandated Efficiency in Standards for Household Appliances , 1980 .