Report: Info Tech Seen Reducing CO2 Emissions Significantly

Much must and can be done by the information and communications technology (ICT) industries to reduce their own carbon emissions. But a just-released addendum to last June’s study for the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, Smart 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age says ITC can help reduce 97% of emissions for the rest of the economy.

Written by the Boston Consulting Group for Ge-SI, the addendum says information and communications technologies are powerful enablers because they give people the information to understand how carbon emissions hurt the environment and the economy. Technology can furnish energy-efficient alternatives to manual, mechanical and physical processes to reduce emissions. According to the addendum:

Replacing physical experiences with virtual experiences, providing information to make better decisions, or cutting waste where it won’t be noticed are just some examples. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy recently issued a report estimating that for every kilowatt hour of energy consumed by ICT, the U.S. economy increases its overall energy savings by a factor of 10. The report cites investment in ICT as a major factor in allowing both the population and economy of the U.S. to grow faster than its energy consumption.

ICT’s capacity to enable energy efficiency can help the economy and reduce the effects of climate change. By 2020, the ICT solutions outlined in this report can reduce an estimated 810 million to 1,410 million metric tons of CO2 from the U.S. baseline of emissions, representing a 13% to 22% reduction in the federal Energy Information Administration’s business-as-usual scenario. This translates to gross savings of $140 billion to $240 billion in avoided electricity and fuel costs. These savings also have significant national security implications as they translate to a reduction in total oil consumption of 11% to 21% and a reduction in dependence on imported oil of 20% to 36%. The range of estimates depends on the rate of adoption of ICT solutions.

In addition to the CO2 abatements sized by this report, ICT can be a powerful lever to change and influence behavior, because it touches the daily lives of people and provides powerful tools for understanding their decisions. ICT’s impact spans beyond technology; it enables the creation of radically new low-carbon business models. For example, ICT can ease coordination among different users to enable services like car-sharing or appliance-sharing to replace individual ownership. These solutions can help reduce the embedded carbon from manufacturing more goods. Thus, ICT’s ability to create transformative change makes it a critical pillar in an energy strategy for a sustainable and prosperous America.

Here's more from the addendum (click on charts to enlarge):