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Is the Digital Future Sustainable?

Author

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  • Seppälä, Timo
  • Mattila, Juri
  • Rajala, Risto

Abstract

It is predicted that in 2030, the energy consumption of the ICT sector will be 21% of the world’s energy consumption, but will resources be enough to carry out all the digital technology development trends at the same time? Trends, such as the transition to the ecommerce, the transition of mobile services to the fifth-generation network, video streaming, online gaming and the rise of electric cars, all increase the need for both storage and computing capacity and energy as well. More broadly, the geographical location of digital resources and infrastructures has implications to country’s security of supply, for example in systems of systems development of smart traffic. The ecological effects of digitalization should also be explored through the lens of digital ecology and sustainability.

Suggested Citation

  • Seppälä, Timo & Mattila, Juri & Rajala, Risto, 2019. "Is the Digital Future Sustainable?," ETLA Brief 80, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.
    • Handle: RePEc:rif:briefs:80
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    File URL: https://www.etla.fi/wp-content/uploads/ETLA-Muistio-Brief-80.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maria Avgerinou & Paolo Bertoldi & Luca Castellazzi, 2017. "Trends in Data Centre Energy Consumption under the European Code of Conduct for Data Centre Energy Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, September.
    2. Anders S. G. Andrae & Tomas Edler, 2015. "On Global Electricity Usage of Communication Technology: Trends to 2030," Challenges, MDPI, vol. 6(1), pages 1-41, April.
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    Cited by:

    1. Mucha, Tomasz & Seppälä, Timo, 2020. "Artificial Intelligence Platforms – A New Research Agenda for Digital Platform Economy," ETLA Working Papers 76, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ICT; Energy efficiency; Computing capacity; Emissions trading; Security of supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes
    • Q4 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy
    • Q5 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics

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