Head of INCOM Steering Committee and prime investigator Prof. Leif K. Oxenløwe has been chairing a panel debate on ‘The Internet’s Rising Energy Consumption’ during a two-day conference 28 February - 1 March, 2019 at Aalborg University, Copenhagen.
The panel will shed light on how the Internet uses energy, how much it is estimated to use (around 9% of global electricity, emitting 2% of manmade CO2), how some actors are trying to do something, while others are not, how researchers try to find new technologies that can reduce energy consumption, how users can influence development, and what kind of energy the internet uses and what kind it maybe should be using in the future. The panel will discuss what measures are needed to make the internet sustainable. Can the internet help reduce our overall climate impact by, for example, reducing travel expenses? Should internet users limit their internet activities, should an internet tax be introduced, must industry be committed to energy-efficient solutions in their future designs? Is this a hindrance to our competitiveness or an advantage? Should public institutions lead the way and only choose energy-efficient IT solutions? Do we need political criteria on energy efficiency before releasing new technology?
Panel members
Leif Katsuo Oxenløwe, DTU (Chair)
Dag Lundén, Telia Company
Anders Andrae, Huawei Technologies (video presentation)
Torsten Hasforth, Dansk Energi
Mads Flarup Christensen, Greenpeace
Full programme of the Climate Conference can be found here
Output from the panel debate is here