1. Measuring the ICT impact on Climate Change
Keith Dickerson
Chairman SG5 WP3 ICT & Climate Change

2. 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?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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

8. Direct Emissions – CO2 intensity

9. Impact of own GHG emissions
LCA require to set
Functional Unit
System boundary
Allocation procedure
Case study: LCA of Wired Network

10. Impact of own GHG emissions
LCA require to set
Functional Unit
System boundary
Allocation procedure
Case study: LCA of Wireless Network

11. 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

12. Impact on other sectors - Teleworking
Typical CO2 emissions per unit area of office space
Japan
USA

13. Impact on other sectors - Videoconferencing
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
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
Reduction of 53%
Reduction of 52%

14. 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

15. 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

16. Net result
Conversion factors for the UK: DEFRA (2008)

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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