Paper for the 8th International Conference of the European Society for Ecological Economics,
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 29 June – 2 July 2009.
Integration of ICT in everyday life – exploration of transition processes in an
environmental perspective
Preliminary reflections
Inge Røpke
Dep. of Management Engineering
Technical University of Denmark
Produktionstorvet, Building 424
2800 Kgs. Lyngby
Denmark
Phone: +45 45256009
Email: ir@ipl.dtu.dk
Abstract
Presently, one of the fastest growing fields of consumption is the use of information and
communication technologies (ICT). The integration of ICT in social practices is part of wideranging transition processes constructing new ‘normal standards’ in everyday life, and these
changes have large environmental impacts. The paper explores the ongoing processes in order to
discuss whether they can be managed so as to better integrate environmental considerations.
Background
The point of departure for this paper is a study on the use of information and communication
technologies (ICT) in Danish households. The study emerged from the field of consumption and
environment and was motivated by two observations. First, the environmental impacts of
consumption are often considered in relation to selected symbolic actions where consumers choose
between more or less environmentally friendly options. Although the range of “green” practices is
extended over time, they still tend to constitute a minor part of the environmental impact related to
consumption. Much environmentally costly consumption is related to ordinary and routinized
practices that are taken for granted and seldom considered in an environmental perspective by
neither consumers, nor politicians (Christensen et al., 2007; Shove, 2003). In contrast to this, the
idea of the study was to take an interest in the gradual and long-term changes of daily life and to
study the social construction of what is taken to be just the normal standard that most people can
expect to achieve. Second, environmental studies tend to focus on the parts of consumption which
are most problematic in an environmental perspective here and now. This calls for studies on food
(e.g. meat), transport and housing (heating, cooling, white goods), while there is little attention to
potential new threats to environment. The idea of the study was to assess whether new problems are
constructed behind our backs while we are dealing with the old problems.
Presently, one of the fastest growing fields of consumption is the use of ICT. Mobile phones and
computers are adopted by all age groups, analogue equipment is replaced by digital equipment, and
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microprocessors are integrated in many other categories of consumer goods. The widespread
adoption of ICT equipment can be seen as an element in constructing a new ‘normality’ in everyday
life: The expectations and conventions regarding a normal home’s necessary ‘infrastructure’ and the
ordinary gear for a normal way of life are changing. These changes have large environmental
impacts. For instance, household electricity consumption increases, and so does the indirect energy
consumption related to the production of ICT-equipment and to the running of the ICTinfrastructure (Røpke et al., 2008b). Other problems relate to the use of rare minerals, brominated
flame retardants and the handling of electronic waste.
In the following I will first report on the results of this study and then argue that the integration of
ICT in everyday life can be interpreted as part of a wider transition process. Furthermore, I will
discuss how this transition process relates to the perspective for a sustainability transition.
ICT use in Danish households
The empirical data for the project were collected in 2007-8 through qualitative interviews with 17
adult informants, all having long experience with the use of ICT and competence to take up new
applications. In addition 11 shorter telephone interviews were carried out with other adult
informants. Few of the informants are ICT experts, but as they are a little ahead of the average users
with regard to use patterns, their activities may indicate emerging trends. Before the in-depth
interview, informants filled in two forms, one covering all ICT equipment in the household (divided
into 40 types), and the other covering the use of computer and internet in relation to 48 activities
organized into 10 groups.
Theoretically, the project is inspired by the practice theory perspective which ascertains that people
in their everyday life are engaged in practices – in doings – they are cooking, eating, sleeping,
taking care of their children, and playing football (Reckwitz, 2002). Practices are meaningful to
people, and if asked about their everyday life, they will usually describe the practices they are
involved in. The consumption, including the use of ICT, comes in as an aspect of practices: to
perform a practice it is, generally, necessary to use various material artefacts such as equipment,
tools, materials, and infrastructures (Warde, 2005; Shove et al., 2007; Røpke, 2009). From an
environmental perspective, it is worth noting that the use of artefacts seldom makes people think of
themselves as users of resources in their daily doings. People are, first of all, practitioners who
indirectly, through their performance of various practices, draw on resources.
Summing up the findings regarding the use of ICT, three observations stand out (Jensen et al., 2009;
Røpke et al., 2008a). First of all, the pervasiveness of ICT: ICTs have become integrated in a wide
range of the informants’ everyday practices. Although ICTs like the computer and the mobile phone
were introduced in relation to a limited number of practices – such as playing games, wordprocessing and communicating – they are no longer seen as dedicated to particular activities.
Rather, they have become part of almost any practice. This indicates that the interpretive flexibility
of these “new ICTs” is much wider than the flexibility of the “old ICTs”, which tended to be
integrated in practices defined by the technology itself: phoning, listening to the radio and watching
television. In particular, the home computer and the internet constitute a general infrastructure that
can be integrated in a wide variety of practices. ICTs support the universal activities of
communication, search for information and shopping, which are all integrated aspects of almost all
practices in modern societies. Thus ICTs are integrated in work and education (teleworking,
distance learning, home office), reproductive work (shopping, banking, public services, health,
security, child care, cooking, do-it-yourself), leisure (social communication, entertainment, games,
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creative activities, documentation, hobbies, gambling, sex), and civil society (organizations,
politics).
Second, the diversification of practices: The integration of new ICTs in everyday practices
codevelops with a diversification of these practices. For instance, the practice of communicating
with relatives and friends is diversified into a large and varied number of sub-practices, using
different kinds of ICT equipment, software and services. Third, user creativity: The use of ICTs
calls for much user creativity when people engage in testing the new technologies and in developing
new applications.
Implications for energy consumption
There are many different environmental problems related to the use of ICT, but I concentrate here
on the implications for energy consumption as a core example. The pervasive integration of ICT in
everyday practices has led to increases in domestic electricity consumption, offsetting the energy
savings attained, for instance, in relation to white goods (IEA, 2009). The increases follow from the
increasing number of computers (everybody needs his or her own; many have more than one),
increased use time (it is not practical to turn off the computer), and the acqusition of much
specialized equipment for various practices, including more mobile devices. The developments
related to television have also contributed to increased electricity consumption (Crosbie, 2008).
In addition to the direct electricity consumption in households, the domestic use of ICT gives rise to
increasing indirect energy consumption, i.e. the upstream energy use related to the manufacture of
ICT-equipment and the energy used for running related infrastructure, e.g. the internet. Summing up
a survey of the sparse literature on the indirect energy consumption related to ICT, Willum
concludes: “When 1 kWh is consumed in the residence 1 kWh is consumed to manufacture,
transport and dispose of the hardware and ½ kWh is consumed to run the Internet and the applied
ICT infrastructure outside the residence” (Willum, 2008).
On the other hand, the increasing energy consumption related to household use of ICT may be
counteracted by derived energy impacts. For instance, the potential for saving energy for transport
in relation to teleshopping and teleworking has been stressed, but the studies of derived energy
impacts tend to be inconclusive.
The changing practices which presently can be observed at the micro level may be considered as
parts of the unfolding history of household electrification. The present changes add a qualitatively
new aspect to electrification and may constitute a new round of electrification. The history of
household electrification may be seen as a story about the use of electricity for ever more purposes,
where new rounds of electrification have emerged in relation to new basic functions rooted in
technological breakthroughs. In the first round the use of electricity for lighting was dominant, in
the second round the basic functions were power and heating/cooling applied in a variety of
devices, and in the present third round data-processing emerges as an increasingly important basic
function (Røpke et al., 2009). Figure 1 illustrates the changing composition of electricity
consumption in Danish households over time.
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Figure 1
The distribution of household electricity consumption among final uses
in Denmark 1946-2006
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
1946 1951 1956 1961 1966 1971 1976 1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006
Lighting
Cooling
Heating
Cooking
Laundry
TV, music and computer
Miscellaneous
The dynamics behind household ICT use
The processes behind the increasing use of ICT in households are extremely complex. As a way to
describe these processes one may start by listing what practitioners meet when they transform their
practices using ICT:
 Supply of devices and related software, a quick pace in the provision of new generations of
equipment
 Supply of services and contents, generated by private companies, the public sector, civil
society organizations and by users themselves
 Infrastructure: internet and other communication and broadcasting networks. Several “pipes
to the home” are offered as well as various kinds of mobile access
 Phasing out of old methods and devices, forcing the laggards to comply
 Pricing policies and advertising campaigns
 New institutions allowing new methods of payment
 Problems of compatibility, safety and security
 Inspiration from the workplace regarding new equipment and services
 Offering of education and training in the use of ICT
 Demands from the school and from the labour market
 A broad array of social discourses concerning issues such as the digital divide, concerns for
safety and security (paedophilia, credit card protection, privacy, addiction), surveillance,
environmental concerns (standby, energy labelling, e-waste).
Practitioners transform their practices in an interplay between, on the one hand, the considerations
relating to particular practices, and on the other hand, the new opportunities offered as well as the
social pressures calling for change. The changes do not only relate to practices where the new
devices and services play an obvious role like keeping in touch with relatives and friends, finding
entertainment and receiving the news, but influence almost all practices.
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Now, what lies behind the opportunities and pressures that practitioners meet? At a basic level the
transformations are based on the classic interplay between the push and pull of technology and
markets. Research and development provide new technological options – and the choice of options
to explore are influenced by commercial potentials and opportunities. Which devices, programmes
and services succeed in finding a market depend on where the money is: who have the ability to
pay? For years liberal policies in many countries have shifted effective demand from the public
sector to affluent and middle class consumers who have integrated ICT based on their private
concerns. Simultaneously, the public sector has played an important role as promoter of the use of
ICT, informed by the idea of “the competitive state”: in the competitive race between nations it is
seen as decisive both that producers implement ICT and that users embrace and become familiar
with ICT.
In between these basic forces of capitalism and rivalry between nation states on the one hand and
user activities on the other, a wide range of institutions, mechanisms, considerations etc. influences
the actual shaping of how ICTs are integrated and how everyday life is transformed. The ICTrelated markets and competition are very complex, involving several layers of infrastructure, global
supply chains, struggles between hardware producers, service providers and content providers, the
search for new business models, conflicts over standardization, and a high degree of public
intervention. Government influences the development in many ways: through regulation of
competition (monopolies, copyright, patents, auctions) and products (standards, safety,
environmental regulation), provision of public services and communication between citizens and
public administration using ICT (health services, tax system, libraries, availability of maps and
church registers), organization of education, support through tax exemptions and subsidies, the
establishment of institutions related to payments and digital signature, protection of consumers and
children, regulation of privacy, prevention of terror, and so on.
These aspects and many more influence the integration of ICT in everyday life – as well as the
related environmental impacts. How can these processes be seen in a transition perspective?
Household ICT use in a transition perspective
When do transformation processes qualify as involving a “transition”? Probably, when they involve
sufficiently radical social or socio-technical changes. In the case of ICT, the potential for
transforming everyday life is radical – comparable to the establishment of the car society, or maybe
even more radical. The changes may be seen as part of a broader transformation towards what is
sometimes characterized as the information society, the communication society or, more recently,
the broadband society – involving also radical transformations of production processes.
The shaping of the broadband society may be seen in a coevolutionary perspective, as illustrated in
Figure 2 (next page). For instance, the development is made possible by the disastrous conditions at
some of the commodity frontiers where important minerals are provided, and by the low wages
earned in the sweatshops of poor countries where much electronic equipment is produced. At the
other end of the scale, income increases for the affluent and middle classes provide a market for
entertainment and gadgets. In many industrialized countries, demographic changes towards an
increasing share of elderly people combined with the increasing problems of funding the welfare
state create a market for labour-saving technologies for health and care. The organization of the
provision is influenced by public regulation, based on the rationales of competitive conditions and
new public management. These are just a few of the many aspects influencing the shaping of the
broadband society.
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Figure 2
Shaping the broadband society
Market
structures
Systems of reputation and
funding
Business
strategies
Understan- Science and
technology
dings
Weak states
Commodity
frontiers
Rationales of
regulation
Public
regulation
E.g.: the shaping
of the broadband
society
Public
demand
Military
Demographic
change / Funding
of the welfare state
The global
sweatshop
Weak unions
Increasing real incomes
for the affluent and
middle classes
Everyday practices / Urban
structures
The processes involved in transforming society into a “broadband society” – whatever that is –
share a number of features with other transitions described in the literature on systems in transition
(Elzen et al., 2004). For instance, the changes take place at multiple levels and involve a broad
range of actors, technical and social innovations coevolve, the government takes on an active role,
and social discourses supported by influential actors play an important part. Does it make sense to
say that the transition towards a “broadband society” also qualifies as a case of transition
management where system builders try to affect the processes and steer them towards a predefined
normative goal? At least it is possible to say that there is a strong discourse regarding the
desirability of the broadband as an almost unquestioned good, delivering both competitiveness and
wellbeing and deserving much public attention. Although this does not qualify as a master plan and
an elaborate vision (beyond the vision of a broadband with a large bandwidth integrated in
everything), there is a strong element of management as well as much active lobbying and business
interests searching for “the killer application” that would make the broadband indispensable.
Environmental regulation of ICT
Now, how does the environment enter into the ICT-based transition? In the wave of interest in
environmental issues following the Brundtland report and the Rio conference, ICT and the
environment were combined. On the one hand, studies on the emergence of the information society
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emphasized the positive potentials related to ICTs, such as the possibilities for increased production
efficiency in most sectors and the opportunities for information sharing within and between
business, academia, consumers and NGOs with regard to environmental issues through the internet.
Also, the potential energy savings related to teleshopping and teleworking as well as
videoconferencing have been highlighted. On the other hand, the discussion on the problematic
environmental impacts of ICT emerged, not the least in relation to the transformation of offices into
energy consuming places. Energy labelling for office equipment was introduced, and later the first
steps towards regulating standby consumption of household appliances were taken. The increasing
amounts of e-waste has led to embryonic regulation of waste handling, and the awareness of
endocrine disruptors and other health risks has been followed by regulation on the use of various
chemicals in electronic equipment. No regulation deals with the conflicts, wars and environmental
disruption at the resource frontiers where the materials needed for electronics are extracted.
The present wave of environmental interest centers on climate change and energy consumption, and
the double perspective on ICT is continued and elaborated. For instance, the energy consumption of
data centres and server parks, including the need for cooling, is increasingly highlighted, and
Gartner’s calculation on the energy consumption of ICT in 2007 received some media attention: the
total amount of CO2 emissions from the ICT industry is estimated to 2 per cent of global carbon
emissions, about the same as the emissions from the aviation industry (see e.g. (Pamlin and
Pahlman, 2008). Simultaneously, it is argued that ICT has great potentials for reducing the other 98
per cent of carbon emissions through improved technologies (what is not mentioned in the
optimistic accounts is the importance of ICT for the organization of global supply chains, involving
much transport and high consumption due to low prices). The interest in household ICT use has the
same double character: the awareness of the impacts on electricity consumption increases, and
simultaneously, the potentials related to the intelligent home, teleshopping and teleworking are
emphasized. However, little is done to avoid the negative impacts of household ICT, and the
positive potentials have not yet been realized.
The meeting between ICT and the environment has been characterized by:
 The environmental regulation is reactive and concerns problems that have grown too much
to be neglected
 Environmental considerations do not question the pace or character of the ICT-related
transformations
 New normal standards are developing in everyday life related to the new infrastructure and
equipment – with little consideration of the environmental implications
 Little is done to actively promote the realization of the environmental potentials related to
the integration of ICT in everyday life
 The selection environment (energy price, income growth etc.) favours entertainment rather
than energy savings.
The intention is not to assess whether the net effects of ICT are good or bad for the environment,
which would be a futile exercise. But the positive impacts are not good excuses for accepting the
negative impacts that have to be prevented if the sustainability challenge is to be taken seriously.
Competing transitions?
While the ICT-related transformations proceed at full speed, a “broad transformation toward
sustainability-oriented innovation remains unrealised” (Steward, 2008: 5). It may look as if the two
agendas of climate change prevention and broadband promotion are equally important at the
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political level, but in spite of the rhetorical focus on climate change, the broadband agenda seems to
be more dominant in practice. What are the differences?
The ICT-related transition is based on technologies that many actors are interested in diffusing, for
commercial and political reasons. The diffusion of ICT is strongly supported by the ideologies of
economic growth and national competitiveness, and it is regarded as a nearly unquestioned good –
the main problems are considered to be the barriers for diffusion.
In contrast, a sustainability transition would be based on an idea – an idea that should influence all
forms of social and technological innovation. As Fred Steward argues, a sustainability-oriented
transformation would be comparable to national mobilizations like the public health reforms of the
19th century and the emergence of the welfare state in the 20th century. Although the promotion of
more sustainable energy systems would be an important part of a sustainability transition, such a
transition would not be technology-based in the same way as the ICT-transition.
In some ways the transitions can be seen as competing, as a sustainability transition would question
the ways in which the ICT-transition proceeds. Steps towards mitigating the environmental effects
of ICT in everyday life may be considered detrimental to competitiveness and to the achievement of
positive environmental impacts related to ICT.
In dominant discourse, sustainability is presently used as a legitimizing device for promoting the
broadband society, but little is done to change the selection environment for innovations in ways
that would, effectively, give priority to environmental improvements at the expense of more
entertainment and convenience.
Transition management – does a deeper understanding help?
As argued above, the transformations related to the integration of ICT in everyday life are
extremely complex, and they do not, in general, serve a sustainability agenda. What would be
needed to make the two agendas meet? Can the processes be regulated better from an environmental
perspective, if we improve our understanding of the complexities of the processes? Or does it make
more sense to stick to the reactive regulation in particular fields combined with instruments that
influence the general selection environment, such as ensuring high energy prices and transferring
income from the private to the public sector through taxation? Presently, the sustainability agenda
does not have sufficient public support to warrant the effective use of general instruments. Would it
be more acceptable – and would it work – with more subtle transition management?
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