It has been widely reported that the Internet can reduce greenhouse emissions by 1 billion tons over the next decade as result of companies such as EnerNoc and Verdiem developing better methods to monitor and control residential and business energy usage. This is undoubtedly true, but people to begin thinking even more broadly about the Internet’s ability to protect the environment.
Act Local
It’s a cliche to be sure, yet the old mantra about thinking globally and acting local still rings true and the growing power of social networks can greatly amplify this tendency.
For instance, as the father of two grade-schoolers, my wife and I regularly cart our kids to their myriad of extra-curricular activities. Not surprisingly, at every practice, an army of SUV’s and minivans fill the parking lot. Most vehicles chauffeured only one child and, more often than not, many of these children either live in the same neighborhood or attend the same school. Now, as much as I love my children and would love to believe they are imbued with extraordinary talents, it is not imperative that I—or any other parent—be attendance at every practice.
My point is that there is no reason why my fellow parents and I can’t better coordinate our activities and car-pool in the same way that today’s free-wheeling, net-savvy teens use social networking tools to plan their activities and share the burdens of daily life. (Alternatively, if a parent feels that he or she just can’t bear to miss a single karate chop, piano recital or soccer kick, perhaps they could convince the sponsoring organization to stream the event onto the web.)
Act Global
Often lost in the discussion about the Internet’s ability to protect the environment is a discussion about the power of the open-source movement. A few weeks back, I read about an innovative technology that might actually take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. (Yes, I know that trees also already do this but this technology might potentially to do it on a larger and quicker timescale).
The technology is still in an early stage of development, but this is where the Internet could help it along. There is a universe of bright, intelligent people who are accessible via the Internet and if given access to the right information might be able to build upon it and facilitate the technology’s entry into the commercial marketplace.
To opponents who question why anyone with such a potentially valuable technology would share it, I would answer that the Internet is already being successfully exploited by innovative companies to do everything from search for new gold deposits to develop new blockbuster drugs. There is no reason why this technology or other new clean technologies can’t be developed in a similar fashion.
Think Different
John Maynard Keynes once said that it is more efficient to “ship recipes than biscuits.” His point was that shipping information and knowledge—and not physical products—is the key to an efficient economic system.
The farsighted economist was absolutely right and the Internet provides society a grand opportunity to rethink this maxim anew—and in an environmental context. Consider the case of Amazon’s new electronic book-reader, Kindle. If we truly want to protect the environment and reduce our impact on the environment, does it really make sense to cut down trees to produce the paper for books; use tons of coal-power electricity to manufacture the books; and then transport those books across the country with gas-guzzling, fossil fuel-powered trucks—all for the privilege of then storing the books in rooms and libraries which must be heated?
How much better would it be to digitally transmit books to electronic devices in a way that leaves only a fraction of the book publishing industry’s carbon footprint?
This, however, is just the beginning. As advances in digital, computer-aided-design are coupled with advances in rapid prototype manufacturing (i.e. printing physical objects) and nanotechnology, the list of future products which might also be shipped in the form of information could grow exponentially.
What’s Really Need: A Change in a Behavior
These modest proposals only hint at the Internet’s potential to enhance the environment. The one common element is that they all also require a change in human behavior. And that, perhaps, is where those of us interested in protecting the environment might want to continue to leverage the Internet—to educate people on how their current behaviors are adversely impacting the environment and then convince them to act out their lives in new, different and more sustainable ways.
Related Posts
Goodbye Global Warming?
Oil Industry Jumps the Curve with Nanotechnology
Grand Plan for Solar Energy is More Than a Reasonable Idea
Pennies From Heaven?
Synthetic Biology: Creating a New Form of Life
The Future of Bioenergy
How Nanotechnology Will Change the Face of the Electric Utility Industry
Jack Uldrich is a writer, futurist, public speaker and host of jumpthecurve.net. He is the author of seven books, including Jump the Curve and The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business. He is also a frequent speaker on future technology and future trends, nanotechnology, innovation, change management and executive leadership to a variety of businesses, industries and non-profit organizations and trade associations.
