High Tech, Low Carbon: the Role of Technology in Tackling Climate Change

Improving energy efficiency in computer hardware and consumer electronics can address three of the main environmental problems facing the planet, according to a new report from the high-tech trade association Intellect.

Climate change, pollution and “resource degradation” are singled out by the authors of the report, “High Tech, Low Carbon: the Role of Technology in Tackling Climate Change,” which was published yesterday by Intellect.

Although, according to a U.N. survey released last year, the IT sector is currently responsible for about 2 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the steady increase in demand for both IT products and standard consumer goods means that without significant improvements in energy efficiency, that number could climb as high as 600 percent in coming years.

The report offers solutions to the problem, solutions that it also says have already begun. The growth of government- and private sector-led programs to improve energy efficiency in electronics, such as the U.S. EPA’s Energy Star program, is a sign of improvement already, but more is clearly needed, and soon.