Yesterday’s roundtable at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C on the environmental benefits of broadband and consumer electronics was a good start to a conversation that we should have. (See, if you subscribe: “Expected Energy Savings From Broadband Critiqued” in the Oct. 31, 2007, issue of National Journal’s Technology Daily.)

Steve Pociask, an economist with TeleNomics, examined, at our request, the literature on the impact of ubiquitous broadband on greenhouse gas emissions. The American Consumer Institute released the study at the Press Club event and invited some rather interesting speakers to discuss this and other studies on the effect of broadband and information technologies on energy intensity and carbon emissions.

Steve’s paper, “Broadband Services: Economic and Environmental Benefits,”

 identifies ways in which broadband can reduce or avoid energy use – totaling up to 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions - over the next 10 years. They include:

·         Business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce, expected to cut greenhouse gases by 206.3 million tons.

·         Telecommuting, projected to shrink greenhouse emissions by almost 600 million tons from less auto use, business energy conservation and reduced office construction.

·         Teleconferencing, which could ax greenhouse gases by 199.8 million tons if it replaced just 10% of air travel over the next 10 years.

These findings are consistent with the work of the roundtable’s moderator, Joe Romm, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, in his 1999 study called: “The Internet Economy and Global Warming.”

UPDATE:  They also are similar to the findings of a study by the Consumer Electronics Association, “The Energy and Greenhouse Gas Emissions Impact of Telecommuting and e-Commerce,” discussed by Douglas Johnson, their Senior Director for Technology Policy.

John Donoghue, with the World Wildlife Fund, pointed to similar effects found by Dennis Pamlin, Global Policy Advisor for WWF, in the 2002 study entitled “Sustainability at the Speed of Light.”  With this kind of potential, the ubiquitous deployment of broadband should be seen as part of the solution to our environmental problems. Indeed, as the strategy for achieving deep reductions in greenhouse gas is developed, it would make little sense to overlook the role of a national and global network that is, even today, changing the way we live, work and play—and how that has fundamentally effected energy usage. Yet, so often, broadband technology is not present in the discussion among environmental policy makers.

So, it was heartening to hear a number of the roundtable panelists from the environmental community—including John Donoghue and others—envision a key role for broadband networks, information technologies and consumer electronics in the fight against global warming.

Emma Stewart from Business for Social Responsibility rightly pointed out that the effects of this 21^st Century technology must be viewed in light of all kind of changes in human behavior.  And, Elena Safirova from Resources for the Future Social Responsibility, another panelist, reiterated the need to more extensive research.

I think they are right. We’d like very much to further this discussion. The ACI study is by no means definitive, and we will be promoting more research on the actual impact of broadband, including individual “behavior changes” that result from broadband usage, actual efficiency that can be achieved with intentional and strategic use of broadband and the consideration that should be given to a national broadband policy as we explore a comprehensive energy policy