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Feature Articles: Restructuring the Global Economy Internet & E-Commerce Have Major Environmental BenefitsLivability and Community Renewal
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By the Center for Energy and Climate Solutions
Authors of the report, The Internet Economy and Global Warming: A Scenario of the Impact of E-Commerce on Energy and the Environment, believe the revolution is already manifesting itself as a sudden shift in the country's energy diet. While the economy grew more than 9 percent in 1997 and 1998, energy demand stayed almost flat in spite of very low energy prices. Such gains mark a major departure from recent historical patterns. "The Internet economy could allow a very different type of growth than we have seen in the past," says Dr. Joseph Romm, lead author and executive director of the Center. "It means there is also a new energy economy that will have profound impacts on not only on the environment, but also economic forecasting." Dr. Romm previously headed the $1 billion energy efficiency and renewables program at the U.S. Department of Energy. For example, the ratio of building energy per book sold in traditional bookstores versus the on-line retailer Amazon.com is 16 to 1. Internet shopping uses less energy to get a package to your house. Shipping 10 pounds of packages by overnight air - the most energy-intensive delivery mode - uses 40 percent less fuel than driving roundtrip to the mall. Ground shipping by truck uses just one tenth the energy of driving yourself. If present Internet trends continue, major environmental benefits will accrue because:
"The Internet can turn buildings into Web sites, and replace warehouses with supply chain software," says Romm. "It can turn paper and CDs into electrons, and replace trucks with fiber optic cable. That means significant energy savings." Most Americans know names like Amazon.com, E-bay, and Travelocity.com. But the lesser-known names of business-to-business e-commerce dwarf the consumer sector in both economic and environmental terms. While consumer e-commerce is expected to grow from $7.8 billion in 1998 to $108 billion in 2003, business e-commerce is expected to rise from $43 billion to more than $1 trillion, according to Forrester Research. As of mid-1999, General Electric alone was doing more than $1 billion worth of Web-based business annually. The Internet Uses Little Energy, Saves A Lot The authors found that the Internet itself is not a major energy user, largely because it draws heavily on existing communications and computing infrastructure. They report the average PC and monitor uses just 150 watts of power. Today's new computers are more than twice as efficient as those they are replacing. As for the fast-growing information technology sector in general, the report concludes it is far less energy-intensive than most conventional industries. Something Big is Already Going on in the Energy Economy Remarkable statistics published this fall by the Energy Department suggests a giant shift in the U.S. energy economy is already underway. Despite historically low prices, energy intensity, the amount of energy consumed for every dollar of economic output, fell 4 percent in 1997, and another 4 percent in 1998, the biggest gain in half a century. The Federal Energy Information Agency says 1999 figures will continue to show large gains. By contrast, the average yearly improvement from 1987 to 1996 was less than one percent. About a third of the gain over the last two years is attributable to expansion in sectors with relatively modest energy needs -- especially the double-digit growth in information technology. The rest is due to increased efficiency throughout the economy. If the new pattern holds, Dr. Romm says it would double the average rate of energy intensity gains for the next decade. Ramifications for Kyoto Climate Treaty A recent EPA analysis concluded that the structural shift alone means standard estimates for U.S. energy and carbon dioxide emissions in 2010 may be overstated by the equivalent of 175 power plants and 300 million metric tons, respectively. Under the unratified Kyoto global warming treaty, the U.S. pledged to cut greenhouse pollution to 7 percent below 1990 of levels by 2012. Current business-as-usual projections put 2010 emissions from energy 33 percent above 1990. Such a drastic revision in that figure would significantly reduce both the difficulty and the cost of hitting the treaty targets. For an Executive Summary
of the Report, visit http://www.cool-companies.org/ecom/port.cfm.
To review the entire report, visit http://www.cool-companies.org/ecom/index.cfm. |
he
emerging New Economy created by the Internet is producing more than
just a business revolution: It is also generating enormous environmental
benefits. By reducing the amount of energy and materials consumed by
business - often dramatically - and increasing overall productivity,
the Internet stands to revolutionize the relation between economic growth
and the environment, according to a new report by the |
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