11/19/2008 by NextGenWeb
It feels like every day we’re reminded of how broadband access can significantly improve the lives of individual Americans — and quite frankly our planet.
The latest news is a study by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), which finds that broadband technology can substantially impact our environment, our economy and our nation’s security. How? By helping to cut carbon emissions, boosting the economy and reducing our reliance on foreign oil.
The GeSI study, “SMART 2020: Enabling the Low Carbon Economy in the Information Age,” outlines the specifics of how information and communications technology can enable a significant reduction in carbon emissions in the United States through 2020. Equally important, it shows how this can happen without diminishing our quality of life.
The study shows that information and communications technologies, including broadband, could cut annual CO2 emissions in the United States between 13 and 22 percent through 2020. That equals savings in fuel and energy costs of between $140 billion and $240 billion. That could mean reducing our total oil consumption between 11 and 21 percent and our imports of foreign oil between 20 and 36 percent.
Of course, broadband isn’t the only player in these stunning predictions. But it is a foundational technology that enables other contributions, such as smart electrical grids, better designed transportation systems, smart buildings and travel substitution (bringing the work to the employee rather than the employee to the work).
We continue to build a vast arsenal of concrete evidence of the advantages of broadband access. It is a compelling case that our nation’s leaders cannot ignore. But of course, broadband technology cannot help when it isn’t ubiquitous. Our public policies must encourage investments that build this broadband foundation throughout the country.
If broadband is the base of a pyramid, then this GeSI study adds one more layer, one more innovative solution to our nation’s most pressing challenges.
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