NextGenWeb was in Denver today checking out the Green Frontier Fest.  We saw tons of new technologies and services that are helping people limit their carbon foot print. Energy is sure to be a major talking point at this years DNC.

Ok…so people seem to be on one side or the other in the energy debate… those who want to drill our way out of the crisis and those who want to drill oil speculators. 

Staying out of this debate… but, we think there is another way of looking at our energy consumption issue.  And, tapping this resource will not only help relieve high gasoline prices, but also help preserve the environment.

The solution is simple: We need to use our growing broadband networks to replace more of the physical world with the virtual world. 

Telecommuting is probably the most thought of “broadband substitution.”  Everyone working from home two days a week equals 1.35 billion (yes billion) gallons of fuel a year.  That means reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 1 billion tons over 10 years. And that equals 10% of all the oil we import each year. 

And, there’s teleconferencing. That reduces another 200 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions over 10 years.  Buying things online.. 36 percent less air pollution, 23 percent less hazardous waste, and nearly 10 percent less greenhouse gases than traditional shopping.  View and pay your bills online… sit on the couch… and save 16 million trees a year.

There is no debate that we need more good ideas and approaches.  We have all finally come to accept that the virtual world works conveniently and efficiently.  We use email (saving 4 million trees). We read news online (there goes 60 million tons of CO2 emissions). 

But, utilizing broadband more means we need more infrastructure.  We can debate where we stand… but the bottom line is… we need more infrastructure.   That costs money.  The government doesn’t have $60 billion a year to put into it.  Yep, that is what all those companies you love to hate (and not just the big guys by the way) spent just this year in building this stuff out.  That is twice as much that U.S. taxpayers spent on the entire interstate highway system and NASA’s man-on-the-moon program combined.  And, the amount is expected to hold steady through at least 2011.

Yep, we need more broadband… to help our environment… address our other challenges. It’s a good time to think about it.  And, make the debate real.

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