IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2015 - 42

ICT Sector

has

impact of energy generation using fossil fuels, the availability and the price
of these resources will bring limitations in their use. To uphold economic development in spite of potential
upcoming restrictions, energy efficiency will be a key factor, because it contributes to the conservation of natural
resources, the reduction of environmental degradation and the saving of
financial resources [11].

Carbon Footprint

Provides

have

Green ICT
Serves as

Economic Sectors
Use

Enabling
Technology

Enables

Role of ICT and Ensuing
Environmental Benefits

Enables
Measure
of

Much of the hope for increased energy efficiency, keeping global energy
demand at a balanced level, lies in
advances in technologies that can
Leads to
Leads
to
Adheres
Partially
grant the ability to optimize the conto
Takes Back
sumption of energy resources. One
Emissions
of the main characteristics of ICT
Energy Efficiency
Savings
Leads to
is that it is a technology with the
potential to increase energy efficienContributes
Contributes
cy. It can be assumed that tapping
to
to
the full technological potential will
Sustainability
mainly be an economic issue, concerning the cost of improvements in
energy efficiency relative to energy
generation. Since energy generated
Figure 3. The role of ICT in a low carbon economy
by fossil fuels still dominates the
global energy market and the extrac■ Increasing the efficiency of conversion from primary
tion of them tends to get more expensive, it is supto secondary energy.
posed that investing in energy efficient technologies
■ Increasing the efficiency of conversion from secondwill become more attractive to institutions and conary to tertiary energy.
sumers [11].
■ Reducing tertiary energy demand.
The Impact of the Rebound Effect
Energy efficiency has become a very important issue
The environmental benefits achieved by improvements
in economics and politics. This has occurred in the face
in energy efficiency are reduced by the rebound effect.
of global energy demand, limitations on current energy
This effect is characterized by an increase in demand
resources, and increased environmental impacts of eneras a result of the introduction of energy efficient techgy use. Energy has always been the main driver for global
nologies, which in turn reduce the energy conservation
economic development. As a result of the environmental
effect of the improved technology. The effect of
ICT to enable reduced energy consumption also
implies decreasing energy costs. These savings
could cause a higher investment in ICT by companies, leading to an enlarging carbon footprint
of the ICT sector. On the other hand the use of
ICT could lead to lower production costs and in
consequence to lower product prices, increasing purchasing power of consumers, and finally
increasing demand [12]. Additionally, time saved
by using ICT could be invested in higher-carbon
activities, such as holidays and shopping [5]. So
Optimization

Dematerialization

Rebound Effect

Much of the hope for increased
energy efficiency lies in
technological advances that
help optimize consumption
of energy resources.

IEEE TEchnology and SocIETy MagazInE

∕

MARCH 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - March 2015