Environmental Impacts of ICT Direct Impacts Bernard Aebischer

Environmental Impacts of ICT Direct Impacts Bernard Aebischer Centre for Energy Policy and Economics (CEPE) Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETHZ) www. cepe. ethz. ch WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

Content 1. Electricity consumption 2. Electricity per capita 3. Environmental impact over the life cycle 4. Energy consumption and CO 2 emissions 5. Future electricity demand WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

1. Electricity Consumption (1) 1. Computer, office equipment, entertainment + Internet, telecom • Non-residential in the USA (Roth, 2001): 3% of total electricity USA • Residential and non-residential in Switzerland: 5% of total electricity (Aebischer, 2000) 2. 85% of all chips not in computer- and telecomequipment ICT 10% of total electricity in Switzerland (Aebischer, 2000) WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

1. Electricity Consumption (2) 2. Microprocessors et al. (controlling, regulation in all kinds of equipment, e. g. cars, and in processes) One large power station: 1000 MW, 8 TWh/a WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

2. Electricity Consumption per Capita (1) • USA: 14 MWh/cap (5 -10% ICT -> 0. 7 -1. 4 MWh/cap) • Switzerland: 7 MWh/cap (10% ICT -> 0. 7 MWh/cap) • World: 2. 5 MWh/cap • China: 1 MWh/cap • India, Africa: 0. 5 MWh/cap • Reliability of electricity supply is essential! WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

2. Electricity Consumption per Capita (2) WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

3. Environmental impact over the life cycle • Energy for manufacturing/distribution: +50% (not 500%) (Spalinger, 2000; Margni et al. , 2001; Hilty et al. , 2001; Socolof et al. , 2001) • Pollution and toxic waste in manufacturing and recycling/disposal: chip production, batteries (mobile, pervasive computing) at end of life (Hilty et al. , 2001) WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

4. Energy Consumption and CO 2 Emissions • 2 -3 units of primary energy (2/3 fossil fuels) to produce 1 unit of electricity • 30% of CO 2 emissions from electricity production • 1 -4% of global energy-induced CO 2 emissions from energy consumption by ICT WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

5. Future Electricity Demand of ICT (1) Efficiency improvements versus diffusion, capacity and intensity of use • Specific electricity consumption: reduction by a factor 100 in 10 years • If reduction only half as fast, then ICT in Switzerland ten times electricity produced worldwide diffusion efficiency improvement faster than increase in capacity and intensity of use WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

5. Future Electricity Demand of ICT (2) But, electricity consumption of ICT is increasing (in OECD countries fastest segment) due to • Diffusion • Increase in capacity: processors 10 W -> 30 W -> 100 W (? ) and increase in intensity of use (24/7) • New fields of application, e. g. fully automated household with < 30% increase of residential electricity (Aebischer and Varone, 2001) WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

5. Future Electricity Demand of ICT (3) But, important saving potentials • Standby losses: 5 -10% of residential electricity consumption (Bertoldi et al. , 2002) • Power supplies: 50% losses (? ) (Aebischer/Huser, 2002) • Energy efficient technologies, e. g. laptop computers, LCD-screens, innovative chip architectures, hardware->software (Transmeta) WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

Literature (1) Roth K. W. et al. : Energy Consumption by Office and telecommunications Equipment in Commercial Buildings. Volume I: Energy Consumption Baseline. Arthur D. Little, Inc. , Cambridge, MA, USA, 2002 Aebischer B. et al. : Energie und Informationstechnik. Energiesparer oder Energiefresser? Bulletin. Magazin der ETH Zürich, Nr. 216 Januar 2000 Varone F. and Aebischer B. : Energy efficiency: the challenges of policy design. Energy Policy 29 (2001) 615 -629 Bertoldi P. , Aebischer B. et al. : Standby Power Use: How Big is the Problem? What Policies and Technical Solutions Can Address It? Proceedings “ACEEE Summer Study 2002” (to be published in August 2002) Aebischer, B. , Varone, F. , The Internet: the most important driver for future electricity demand in households. In: Proceedings of the 2001 eceee Summer Study "Further than ever from Kyoto: Rethinking energy efficiency can get us there", Vol. I, pp. 394 -403 (original study: http: //www. electricity-research. ch/SB/haushaltsvernetzung -00 -english. PDF) Aebischer B. and Huser A. : Energy Efficiency of Power Supplies between 100 and 1000 Watt Nominal Load (work in progress) WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer

Literature (2) Socolof M. L. et al. : Desktop Computer Displays: A Life-Cycle Assessment. US EPA-744 -R 01 -004 a, Washington, 2001 Margni M. , Jolliet O. and Baumgartner Th. (Org. ): Environmental Impact of Telecommunication System and Services. 13 th Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment EPF Lausanne, 25 April 2001 Spalinger R. : Kumulierter Energieverbrauch eines PC. Mercato Technik. Infel, Zürich, Juli 2000 Hilty L. M. and Gilgen P. W. (Eds. ): Sustainability in the Information Society. 15 th International Symposium Informatics for Environmental Protection, Zurich 2001 Berkhout F. and Hertin J. : Impacts of Information and Communication Technologies on Environmental Sustainability: speculations and evidence. Report to the OECD, 2001 Heiskanen E. et al. : Dematerialisation: The Potential of ICT and Services. Ministery of the Environment, Helsinki, 2001 Aebischer B. et al. : Energy Efficiency Indicator for High Electric-Load Buildings. The Case of Data Centres. "IEECB 2002. 2 nd International Conference on Improving Electricity Efficiency in Commercial Buildings„ Nice, 27 -29 mai 2002 WSIS, Prep. Com 1, Geneva, 1 -5 July 2002 Dr. Bernard Aebischer