Digitalisation, energy and data demand:The impact of Internet traffic on overall and peak electricity consumption

Over the last decade, concerns have been raised about increases in the electricity used by information technologies, other consumer electronic devices, data centres, and to a much lesser degree, Internet distribution networks. At the same time, ‘smart’ innovations are widely anticipated to help reduce energy demand across diverse sectors of society. Yet such potential savings, as well as the increasing use of other digital services, are predicated upon continued expansion of digital infrastructures. This paper focuses on the phenomenal growth in Internet traffic, as a trend with important implications for energy demand. It outlines an agenda to better understand how data demand is changing. Drawing on findings from our own research in combination with secondary data analysis, we examine the alignment of peak demand for electricity and data. Peaks in data appear to fall later in the evening, reflecting the use of online entertainment, but this is far from fixed. Overall, the paper argues that a better understanding of how everyday practices are shifting, in concert with the provision and design of online services, could provide a basis for the policies and initiatives needed to mitigate the most problematic projections of Internet energy use

ICT Under Constraint : Exposing Tensions in Collaboratively Prioritising ICT Innovation for Climate Targets

The international treaty known as the Paris Agreement requires global greenhouse gas emissions to decrease at a pace that will limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Given the pressure on all sectors to reduce their emissions to meet this target, the ICT sector must begin to explore how to innovate under constraint for the first time. This could mean facing the unprecedented dilemma of having to choose between innovations, in which case the community will need to develop processes for making collective decisions regarding which innovations are most deserving of their carbon costs. In this paper, we expose tensions in collaboratively prioritising ICT innovation under constraints, and discuss the considerations and approaches the ICT sector may require to make such decisions effectively across the sector. This opens up a new area of research where we envision HCI expertise can inform and resolve such tensions for values-based and target-led ICT innovation towards a sustainable future

Undesigning the Internet:An exploratory study of reducing everyday Internet connectivity

Internet connectivity is seamlessly integrated into many of our everyday habits and activities. Despite this, previous research has highlighted that our rather excessive Internet use is not sustainable or even always socially beneficial. In this paper, we carried out an exploratory study on how Internet disconnection affects our everyday lives and whether such disconnection is even possible in today’s society. Through daily surveys, we captured what Internet use means for ten participants and how this varies when they are asked to disconnect by default, and re-connect only when their Internet use is deemed as necessary. From our study, we found that our participants could disconnect from the Internet for certain activities (particularly leisure focused), yet they developed adaptations in their lives to address the necessity of their Internet use. We elicit these adaptations into five themes that encompass how the participants did, or did not, use the Internet based on their necessities. Drawing on these five themes, we conclude with ways in which our study can inspire future research surrounding: Internet infrastructure limits; the promotion of slow values; Internet non-use; and the undesign of Internet services

The real climate and transformative impact of ICT:A critique of estimates, trends and regulations

In this paper, we critique ICT's current and projected climate impacts. Peer-reviewed studies estimate ICT's current share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at 1.8-2.8% of global GHG emissions; adjusting for truncation of supply chain pathways, we find this share could actually be between 2.1-3.9%. For ICT's future emissions, we explore assumptions underlying analysts' projections to understand the reasons for their variability. All analysts agree that ICT emissions will not reduce without major concerted efforts involving broad political and industrial action. We provide three reasons to believe ICT emissions are going to increase barring intervention and find not all carbon pledges in the ICT sector are ambitious enough to meet climate targets. We explore the underdevelopment of policy mechanisms for enforcing sector-wide compliance, and contend that without a global carbon constraint, a new regulatory framework is required to keep the ICT sector's footprint aligned with the Paris Agreement

The climate impact of ICT:A review of estimates, trends and regulations

In this report, we examine the available evidence regarding ICT's current and projected climate impacts. We examine peer-reviewed studies which estimate ICT's current share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to be 1.8-2.8% of global GHG emissions. Our findings indicate that published estimates all underestimate the carbon footprint of ICT, possibly by as much as 25%, by failing to account for all of ICT's supply chains and full lifecycle (i.e. emissions scopes 1, 2 and fully inclusive 3). Adjusting for truncation of supply chain pathways, we estimate that ICT's share of emissions could actually be as high as 2.1-3.9%. There are pronounced differences between available projections of ICT's future emissions. These projections are dependent on underlying assumptions that are sometimes, but not always, made explicit - and we explore these in the report. Whatever assumptions analysts take, they agree that ICT will not reduce its emissions without a major concerted effort involving broad political and industrial action. We provide three reasons to believe ICT emissions are going to increase barring a targeted intervention, and we note that in light of these, it seems risky to assume that ICT will, by default, assist in the attainment of climate targets. Based on our analysis, we find that not all carbon pledges in the ICT sector are ambitious enough to meet climate targets. We explore the underdevelopment of mechanisms for enforcing sector-wide compliance, and contend that without a global carbon constraint, a new regulatory framework is required to keep the ICT sector's carbon footprint in alignment with the Paris Agreement. We further contend that a global carbon constraint should be viewed as a significant opportunity for the ICT sector, as efficiencies within and enabled by ICT would be even greater enablers of productivity and utility than they are today

Anticipatory Governance in the Technology Sector:Processes, Critiques and Principles for Addressing Grand Challenges in Computing

With growing understanding of negative social and environmental impacts of computing technologies and increasingly urgent calls to mitigate these impacts, the sector now faces thorny questions around whether and how to govern computing technologies. This workshop aims to bring together researchers and practitioners across a wide range of disciplines to explore critical perspectives on and solutions to anticipatory governance in the computing sector. We will draw on participants' diverse expertise to develop a practical and ethical governance roadmap that attends to the computing sector's responsibility to mitigate its own contribution to the climate emergency. Having developed strategies within this specific context, we will then produce a set of governance principles that could be useful to mitigate other harms resulting from computing, nominally those pertaining to efforts around responsible AI, data protection, and mis/disinformation

Greater than the sum of its parts: exploring a systemic design-inspired responsible innovation framework for addressing ICT carbon emissions

The carbon footprint of the world’s Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is growing at an alarming rate, giving rise to calls for tools and methodologies for reporting on carbon emissions towards greater accountability within the sector. Accurately calculating the emissions of digital technologies is a complex task where there are no clear standards for methodologies or boundaries for what should be included in these calculations. Nevertheless, a number of online carbon calculators exist to quantify carbon emissions of ICT. The starting question in this paper is how much such tools can inform and provide insight to people working with ICT innovation to take action to reduce the environmental impacts from the products, services and systems they create. To explore this question, we analyse ICT carbon calculators from a digital innovation designer's perspective, exploring what they enable those creating ICT to see and understand, as well as the limitations of these views on carbon. We argue that these approaches are limited and that a better way to address the issue is by moving from designing carbon calculators to co-designing a framework for responsible innovation that enables systems thinking, exposes complexities, helps with the assessment of carbon emissions without fixating on numbers, and supports evaluation and visualisation of future scenarios

Mapping the Scope of Software Interventions for Moderate Internet Use on Mobile Devices

ICT is expected to form 21% of global electricity demand in 2030, and history has shown that efficiency gains in Internet infrastructure aiming to curtail such impacts are far outstripped by the growth in data traffic. We need to reduce demand for Internet connectivity, yet encouraging moderate interactions with digital devices and online services could potentially benefit users. HCI designs have been suggested for moderate interactions and Internet usage, most commonly on smartphones - but it's currently unclear whether these interventions can actually be implemented and tested to understand the user and environmental impacts. In this paper, we review features for understanding and manipulating data traffic in accordance with the stock Android and iOS development libraries to better scope the potential for implementing moderate and sustainable digital experiences. Specifically, we outline the intervention features plausible for Android implementation, and we provide reasoning for why iOS is currently too restrictive