Laitner, JAHS. 2002. Information Technology and US Energy Consumption: Energy Hog, Productivity Tool, or Both? Journal of Industrial Ecology 6, no. 2: 13-24.
The authors suggest that the wrong questions are being asked in the debate about ICT and energy consumption. Current questions are too limited. Instead, we should be asking questions like this: "What impact with the information age have on our ability to produce goods and services within our economy; and what impact will it have, in turn, on the nation's overall energy requirements? IN shot, will the information economy prove to be an energy hog, a productivity tool or both?" (14).
The author argues that yes, ICT does have an impact on energy efficiency. "Even with a small correction to reflect the influence of weather, it appears that the annual rate of change in 1996-2001 was surprisingly larger than many analysts might have expected on the basis of past trends. This is all the more surprising because it occurred in the absence of any significant price signals or major energy policy initiatives within the United States" (15).
"The initial evidence with respect to information technologies appears to support a trend toward decreasing energy intensity compared to the trends now represented in conventional forecasts. Nonetheless, as long as GDP grows faster than the decline in energy intensity, overall energy consumption will continue to increase, albeit at a smaller rate" (20).
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