Conference: “The Environmental Impact of Internet-Based Services”, Vlad Coroama, PhD

Date: 6 de Março, 4ª feira, 12h30

Address: Sala 3.3, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica

Abstract: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are increasingly seen as important contributors towards societal dematerialization, through the substitution of ICT-based services for less efficient processes and activities. Such claims, however, seldomly go beyond mere visions, as the substitutes’ own environmental impacts are poorly understood. While numerous assessments of the energy consumption and carbon intensity of ICT equipment were put forward, they typically only pay attention to the use-phase of the equipment, ignoring the rest of the life cycle. Moreover, existing studies focus on ICT equipment and largely ignore the services it enables, which are the ones actually inducing dematerialization. The talk focuses on these gaps and presents some recent, LCA-based studies of the environmental impact of Internet-based services. About the presenter: A computer scientist by education, Vlad's research focuses on the environmental impact assessment of the Internet, its services, and their dematerialization potential. He is both a skeptic about his own field, and a firm believer in Dave MacKay's "1% rule" that states that, when it comes to sustainability, the societal and academic discussion should focus on the big numbers, and not on peanuts.

Organization:

Centro para a Ecologia Industrial (CIE)

http://www2.dem.uc.pt/CenterIndustrialEcology/Lunch%20seminars.htm