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The digital revolution affects the environment on several levels. Most directly, information and communications technology (ICT) has environmental impacts through the manufacturing, operation and disposal of devices and network equipment, but it also provides ways to mitigate energy use, for example through smart buildings and teleworking. At a broader system level, ICTs influence economic growth and bring about technological and societal change. Managing the direct impacts of ICTs is more complex than just producing efficient devices, owing to the energetically expensive manufacturing process, and the increasing proliferation of devices needs to be taken into account.
One of the most striking aspects of information and communications technology (ICT) is the speed of its progress and adoption. Thirty years ago, information flows were mediated by postal deliveries, landline telephones and broadcast television, whereas now we access a globally interconnected world through a variety of devices from smart phones to large flat-screen displays. Technological progress in ICT is reflected in Moore's law, the observation that the number of transistors that can be packed into an integrated circuit doubles every 18 months1. Moore's law has become a self-fulfilling prophecy: the semiconductor industry actively aims to maintain Moore's rate of progress2. Although ICT currently relies on silicon-based integrated circuits, new technologies are on the horizon, including materials such as germanium and carbon, new architectures such as fin field-effect transistors (FinFETs), and new conceptual models such as quantum computing.
Few would dispute that ICTs are transforming societies and economies around the world. ICT is an example of a 'general-purpose technology', meaning that it interacts with and enhances other technologies3. Although the economic and social implications of ICTs are much discussed and analysed, the environmental implications receive much less attention. Yet ICTs interact fundamentally with environmental issues. To justify this assertion, first consider how previous technological revolutions, such as steam engines, the combustion engine and electricity, have fundamentally restructured human interactions with the environment. On the positive side, engines and electricity have greatly increased the efficiency of delivering energy services. At the same time, technology is a key element in an economic growth engine4 that drives the increasing use of technology.
Consider, for example, the replacement of horses by automobiles in the twentieth century. Cars are much more efficient than horses...