Does digitalisation save energy? Drivers, rebounds and policy options

Tim Foxon, Steve Sorrell and Noam Bergman

SPRU, University of Sussex, UK

Digitalisation can be a key driver of the energy transition through enabling the take-up of zero-carbon energy technologies and facilitating the provision of goods and services with lower energy use.  However, these benefits are not automatic, and depend upon how digital technologies are implemented and used, and how they shape the evolution of consumption patterns and energy-using behaviours. Hence, maximising the climate benefits of digital technologies will require active policy intervention.

This paper synthesises research by the Digital Society theme of the UK Centre for Research into Energy Demand Solutions (CREDS). Other work under CREDS has shown that transformative changes, including through digitalisation, have the potential for reducing UK energy demand by over 50% by 2050, compared to 2020 levels, without reducing citizens’ quality of life [1]. However, there is only limited historical evidence of adoption of digital technologies and services leading to energy savings and so further action by policy-makers, industry and users will be necessary to realise these savings.

We argue that digital technologies have the potential to enable large energy savings in through: a) substituting for more energy-intensive goods and services (e.g. teleworking, teleconferencing); b) enabling the sharing of material goods (e.g. car clubs, ridesharing); and c) optimising the control of buildings, industrial processes and other systems (e.g. building energy management systems, smart logistics). However, the digital economy has a large and rapidly growing energy footprint, and the continuing improvements in the energy efficiency of individual devices have been offset by continuing increases in the number, power, complexity and range of applications of those devices – encouraged in part by the efficiency improvements themselves.

For example, many digital services (e.g. e-books) provide only a partial substitute for their material equivalents and the lower cost and higher utility of other digital services (e.g. video streaming) encourages large rebound effects [2]. The historical evidence for teleworking in England suggests that it has encouraged people to live further from their place of work and to take additional non-work trips, thereby leading to increased travel and energy consumption [3].  Similarly, 5G mobile networks are encouraging more data-intensive services (e.g. unlimited data plans), stimulating the demand for new services (e.g. virtual reality, mobile gaming), and facilitating the integration of 5G with other applications (e.g. Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things), that are offsetting the energy savings from improved efficiency [4].  The impact of emerging technologies such as automated vehicles remains more uncertain, but they could encourage more vehicle kilometres in emptier vehicles, together with substitution away from active modes and public transport.

These findings suggest the need for active policy intervention to encourage energy savings and mitigate rebound effects. We provide examples of potential policy measures in relation to collecting and using data; promoting more shared mobility solutions; discouraging ‘tele-sprawl’; and enabling changes in user practices for smart home systems and digital devices.

References

[1] Barrett, J. et al. Energy demand reduction options for meeting national zero-emission targets in the United Kingdom. Nat. Energy 7, 726–735 (2022).
[2] Court, V. & Sorrell, S. Digitalisation of goods: A systematic review of the determinants and magnitude of the impacts on energy consumption. Environ. Res. Lett. 15, (2020).
[3] Caldarola, B. and Sorrell, S. (2022) Do teleworkers travel less? Evidence from the English National Travel Survey. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 159. pp. 282-303.[4] Williams, L, Sovacool, B and Foxon, T J (2022) The energy use implications of 5G: reviewing whole network operational energy, embodied energy, and indirect effects. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 157. a112033 1-18.