Is ICT responsible for raising energy demand?

Or is it a tool used for generating energy savings?

In the eighties and nineties, the energy consumption of ICT appliances was not an issue. At that time, it appeared to be miniscule in comparison to other energy consumption. In recent years however, this has changed dramatically. The ICT sector has matured and today’s huge server rooms can hardly be called minor energy users. Moreover, rising energy prices and climate change concerns have raised awareness of stand-by losses of communication appliances and PCs. As a result of this, the ICT sector is increasingly criticised for its steeply rising energy consumption.

It is a fact that the carbon footprint of the ICT sector has been rising and is now estimated to be 2% of global emissions, but the ICT sector cannot be viewed separately from the rest of the economy. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) has recently published a study ('Information and Communication Technologies: The Power of Productivity') stating that the innovative effects of ICT have contributed to an economy-wide reduction of the energy intensity in the U.S.

ICT as leverage for energy efficiency

ICT has indeed not only been the engine of economic growth in recent decades, it has also been an important factor in improving the energy productivity of industry and business. ICT has enabled the design of new and more energy efficient appliances, it has played an important role in optimising production processes, and it has replaced several energy-intense physical products and services with online services. The 3D design of turbine blades, computerised ‘virtual power plants’ to optimise efficiency, smart metering techniques… These are just three out of many examples that would not exist today without the ICT innovations of recent years.

Saving more energy than it consumes

U.S. energy intensity decreased by an average of 1.8% between 1970 and 1996 and an average of 2.4 between 1996 and 2006. According to the ACEEE, this improvement can be attributed to the ICT sector, with 1996 as a watershed year in the expansion of ICT in internet-based and other electronic applications. This is said to have brought about the accelerated energy intensity reduction in the last few years. The ACEEE assessment also points out that about ten kilowatt-hours are saved today through increased energy efficiency for every kilowatt-hour of electricity demanded by ICT.

Those claims have to be taken with a pinch of salt, though. It is not so hard to believe that such correlations exist to a certain extent, but proving them with these kinds of figures seems close to guesswork. There are also many other factors influencing the energy intensity of any economy. Sometimes it seems as if the same energy savings are being claimed several times; energy efficiency programmes, higher energy prices, ICT expansion, et cetera all claim paternity.
Fortunately, the ACEEE does not simply sit back and rely on these claims to contend that the ICT sector is doing fine and can rest on its laurels. ICT’s efforts to bring down its own energy consumption continue to be of paramount importance for the sustainability of the sector.

Still a large untapped potential

And what about the future? According to John Laitner, ACEEE Director of Economic Policy Analysis and co-author of the study, the ICT sector will continue to play its important role as a catalyst for improving energy efficiency. He still sees a large untapped potential of productivity and efficiency gains due to adoption of ICT in households, businesses, and industry.