Yale journal explores new environmental applications of ICT

New applications of information and communication technology (ICT) that could save society significant amounts of energy and money and reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the planet are explored in a special issue of Yale's Journal of Industrial Ecology.

These applications exploit recent advances in ICT, such as social networking and Web 2.0, smart energy monitoring and geographic information systems, and are explored in depth in the special issue "Environmental Applications of ICT," published with support from the Leading Edge Forum of CSC, a global information technology services firm. The research examines the following:

• computer models that estimate quantities and types of residential energy use with striking geographic detail—to the zip code level;
  
• electronic systems that provide continuous appliance-level energy monitoring for households;
  
• smart irrigation technologies that lower the associated costs of water use and carbon emissions
  
• energy-saving electronic control systems for small- and medium-sized manufacturers;
  
• applications of Web 2.0 for streamlining the organization of knowledge in industrial ecology; and
  
• Internet-based modeling of carbon-reduction technologies for use in large cities.

Additional studies in the special issue assess the environmental impacts of the ICT and entertainment and media sectors, investigate digital music technology's potential for reducing carbon emissions, and estimate the net environmental impact—considering the positive and negative—of the ICT industry.

"It is easy to see that information and communication technology is transforming our society," says Sir Peter Crane, Dean of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. "This research brings insight and clarity to less-obvious dimensions of their environmental impacts."

Provided by Yale University