Esther Mueller

Abstract: Despite the fact that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are responsible for only a small part of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions � current estimations attribute around 2 % of man made emissions to ICT � this sector is the one with the fastest growing emissions. As a result, there is an increasing concern about the environmental impact of ICT, especially the climate change potential induced by ICT related energy consumption. At the same time, there is a growing perception that ICT can also substantially reduce the environmental impacts of other sectors, in particular by increasing their energy efficiency. ICT can help all economic sectors to become more energy efficient � since ICT allows existing processes to be optimized or enables entirely new, more energy efficient processes. The energy that could be saved by ICT induced energy efficiency is estimated to be several times larger than the overall energy consumption of ICT itself. The European Commission recognizes this potential and hopes that Europe will go a long way toward achieving its target of 20 % greenhouse gas reduction by 2020 by deploying ICT for energy efficiency. The present study looks at the field spawned by these two main issues at the intersection between ICT and energy: ICT�s own energy consumption and ICT�s potential to induce energy efficiency across the economy. In its approach to these issues, the study looks both at today�s situation, as well as future opportunities and risks. The study discusses the following research questions: a) estimates of the current energy consumption of ICT, b) prospective future developments in this energy consumption, and c) future energy efficiency potentials induced by ICT in various economic sectors. [...]