Measuring the ICT impact on
Climate Change
Keith Dickerson
Chairman SG5 WP3 ICT &
Climate Change
International
Telecommunication
Union
1
Introduction
 Background
 What has ITU-T done?
 How do we measure the impact of
ICTs on Climate Change?
 What is ITU-T going to do in the
future?
2
ITU-T timeline for ICTs
and Climate Change
 December 2007: ITU Technology Watch report to TSAG
on ICTs & CC
 July 2008: TSAG set up Focus Group to investigate ICTs
& CC
 open to ITU non-members
 4 deliverables including methodology
 October 2008: WTSA resolution on ICTs & CC
 April 2009: FG ICTs & CC report to TSAG
 May 2009: SG5 renamed “Environment & Climate
Change” and sets up:
 WP3 on ICT & CC
 JCA on ICT & CC
ITU-T FG ICTs & CC
Deliverables
 D1 Definitions
 Defined key metrics
 D2 Gap analysis and Standards Roadmap
 Reviewed activities concerning ICT and climate change
inside and outside ITU
 Identified Gaps and Issues for Future Work
 D3 Methodologies
 to calculate carbon footprint
 ICT devices’ own emissions (embodied and in-use)
 Mitigations in other sectors using ICTs
 D4 Direct and Indirect Impact of ITU Standards
 Identified key activities inside ITU-T and ITU-R
 Questionnaire sent to ITU-T and ITU-R SGs identified what
was going on
Goal of Deliverable 3
Methodologies
 Internationally agreed common
methodology for measuring the following
impacts of ICTs on climate change:
-
Reduction of ICT’s own emissions over
their entire lifecycle (direct impact)
=> Power reduction methods
-
Mitigation that follows through the
adoption of ICTs in other relevant
sectors (indirect impact)
=> CO2 saving calculation methods
Scope of Deliverable 3
Methodologies
 To include:
 a calculation methodology of energy consumption
saved through ICT utilization;
 the definition of basic units relevant to the cases
considered;
 the identification, gathering and processing of
relevant parameters (e.g. user behavior);
 the principles and tools to measure and evaluate the
results;
 a list of examples of the uses of how ICTs can
replace or displace other energy-consuming
technologies/uses;
 analysis of existing standards and a proposal for
development of new standards, if needed.
Relevant metrics and Units
Metric System





Power unit: 1 W = 1 kg m2 s-3
Energy unit: 1 J = 1 W.s
1 kWh = 3,600,000 J
Mass unit:
1 kg or 1 t = 1,000 kg
Volume unit: 1 m3 = 1,000 L
Global warming Potential (GWP)





Carbon Dioxide (CO2) = 1 CO2e
Methane (CH4)
= 25 CO2e
Nitrous Oxide (N2O) = 298 CO2e
Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6) = 22,800 CO2e
HFC-23 (CHF3)
= 14,800 CO2e
Direct Emissions
– CO2 intensity
(1) Calculate energy
consumption reduction
through the use of ICTs
(2) Convert into CO2
emissions reduction
Use CO2 emission intensity
reflecting the situation in each
country.
Impact of own GHG emissions
 LCA require to set
 Functional Unit
 System boundary
 Allocation procedure
Case study: LCA of Wired Network
Internet Service Provider
Boundary for evaluation
Transfer facility
LAN switch
Router
Router
LAN switch
Access network
equipment
Subscriber module
Metallic cable
Subscriber station
DSU
DSLAM
OLT
Metallic cable
ADSL modem
Optical cable
ONU
PC
PC
PC
ISDN
ADSL
FTTH
CO 2 emissions [kg-CO 2/year/subscriber]
Disposal/recycling
120.0
Use
100.0
Production
Recovery by recycling
80.0
60.0
40.0
20.0
0.0
-20.0
ISDN
ADSL
FTTH
Impact of own GHG emissions
 LCA require to set
 Functional Unit
 System boundary
 Allocation procedure
Case study: LCA of Wireless Network
0.7
Use
50
Production
40
Disposal/ recycling
30
20
10
0
-10
Energy consumption[GJ/year/subscriber]
CO2 emissions [kg-CO2/year/subscriber]
60
0.6
Use
0.5
Production
0.4
Disposal/ recycling
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
-0.1
Mitigation
- Impact on other sectors
 Dematerialisation to reduce energy in production of goods







(paper, CDs, DVDs, etc.)
Efficient use of power (e.g. standby modes, load shifting)
Travel avoidance to reduce energy in movement of people
(cars, buses, rail, aircraft, etc.) via teleconferencing, etc
Process optimisation to improve energy efficiency in
movement of goods (mail, trucks, rail cargo, cargo ships, etc.)
Improved efficiency in use of office space (electricity, office
area, etc.) reduces the need for heating lighting, etc (e.g. hot
desking)
Reduced storage of goods, e.g. in the ‘just in time’ supply
chain to save warehouse lighting and heating
Improved work efficiency (workload etc.) e.g. streamlining
processes and online training
Waste avoidance and efficient recycling
Impact on other sectors
- Teleworking
Typical CO2 emissions per unit area of office space
Japan
USA
Impact on other sectors
- Videoconferencing
Evaluation Result
Evaluation Result
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Reduction of 53%
Disposal
Use
Production
Conference on a trip
Video conference
Energy Consumption(GJ/year)
Video conference held between Tokyo
and Yokohama, every working day (240
times / year), eight hours each time,
participated in by two people from each
office
Energy Consumption(GJ/year)
Video conference held between Tokyo
and Yokohama, once a week (48 times /
year), one hour each time, participated
in by two people from each office
25
20
Reduction of 52%
Disposal
Use
Production
15
10
5
0
Conference on a trip
Video conference
Conventional wisdom
 “Substituting kilobits for kilograms cuts down




carbon emissions…”
Obviously, this is an area in which ICT has a
critical role to play
Reducing travel (of goods and people) is
always beneficial
This is generally true but…
Some projections about the resulting carbon
savings are greatly exaggerated
 Average commuting distance is often overestimated
(and sometimes attributed to car travel only)
 The increase in domestic energy use incurred by
teleworking is usually not factored in
14
Domestic carbon footprint
 Teleworking increases domestic energy
consumption
 Flexible workers estimate that their
home is occupied an average
21hrs/week more when they telework
 This is an (optimistic) >12.5% increase
 Yearly energy usage of an average UK
household (source: OFGEM):
 3300 kWh (Electricity)  400 kWh extra
 20500 kWh (Gas)  2500 kWh extra
15
Net result
900
Total (kgCO2/day)
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Initial
Commuting
Tier 1
Tier 2
Domestic increase
Conversion factors for the UK: DEFRA (2008)
16
Preliminary conclusions
 Teleworking is definitely and provably
beneficial
 Most businesses will substantially reduce
their carbon footprint by encouraging it
 However, looking at the big picture, it
becomes obvious that:
 Linear extrapolation leads to overoptimistic
projections
 Accompaniment measures will make a big
difference (e.g. “educating” home-workers)
 Secondary optimisation is needed to
maximise impact
17
Secondary optimisation
 The increase in domestic CO2 emissions can
be more than offset by scaling down office
space
 One of the least controversial “green”
propositions
 Potentially huge savings on utility bills and/or
rental costs
 But there are obstacles
 “Discretisation”: until you can power down a
room, floor, building or site you’ve gained
nothing!
 Semi-flexible workers means this is often
impractical
18
Further work in ITU-T SG5
Chairman WP3: Mr. Keith Dickerson (BT, UK),
Vice chairs: Ms Eunsook Kim (Korea) and Mr. Takeshi Origuchi (NTT, Japan)
Q. #
Title
Rapporteur
17/5
Coordination and Planning of ICT&CC related
standardization
Paolo Gemma
Associate: Franz Zichy
18/5
Methodology of environmental impact
assessment of ICT
Jean-Manuel Canet
Associate: Takafumi Hashitani
19/5
Power feeding systems
Ms Kaoru Asakura
Acting associate: Didier Marquet
20/5
Data Collection for Energy Efficiency for ICTs
over the lifecycle
Gilbert Buty
Associate: Dave Faulkner
21/5
Environmental protection and recycling of ICT
equipments/facilities
Didier Marquet; Júlio Cesar Fonseca
Associate: Ms Xia Zhang, Paulo Curado