As part of a research project involving Adrian and I, we recently published a paper at Patterns on ‘The real climate and transformative impact of ICT: A critique of estimates, trends, and regulations’. 

In this paper, we find that ICT forms somewhere between 2.1-3.9% of global greenhouse gas emissions when ICT’s full supply chains and environmental impacts are considered. We also uncover the assumptions that underpin experts’ estimates of ICT’s environmental impact, explore ICT trends which could increase the sector’s emissions, and find that sector-wide compliance is required to ensure ICT aligns with the Paris Agreement.

Read the full paper here. This work was also picked up by major news outlets including the Telegraph, the Times, Yahoo News, Phys.org, the Daily Mail UK, MSN and BBC Radio 4!

In the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University, we are conducting a study into how ICT (Information Communication Technology) researchers and technologists prioritise and negotiate ICT innovation for sustainable future.

If you are a researcher or technologist in the ICT sector, please consider participating.

The study consists of a short demographic survey and an online group interview with other researchers/technologists via Teams. The group interview will last no longer than an hour, will be scheduled at a time to suit you and the other participants, and will involve:

– reflecting on your experiences of working in ICT,

– discussing what innovation topics you and other participants think the ICT sector should prioritise, including a ‘prioritisation exercise’ to help you negotiate and make these decisions collectively as a group,

– and your feedback on the ‘prioritisation exercise’.

As a thank you for your time, a £10 Amazon voucher will be given to you.

If you are interested in participating, please contact the primary researcher:

Kelly Widdicks

k.v.widdicks@lancaster.ac.uk

In the past few weeks, our work investigating Internet demand and streaming has had a lot of attention in the media. This comes after our paper ‘Streaming, Multi-Screens and YouTube: The New (Unsustainable) Ways of Watching in the Home’ (authored by Kelly Widdicks, Mike Hazas, Oliver Bates and Adrian Friday) was published and presented by Kelly at the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems this May.

The prominence of streaming, and the push for Internet infrastructure expansion to cope with the growth in demand, is important to consider due to the underlying energy impacts from the Internet infrastructure. Streaming accounts for perhaps 3% of global electricity demand, and is expected to grow further year-on-year. This growth is expected on broadband and fixed access networks, as well as mobile cellular networks (4G) which are particularly energy-intensive.

We investigated the prominence of streaming in everyday life through qualitative interview data with participants, alongside quantitative logs from wifi routers deployed into participants’ homes for one month. We uncovered new ways in which watching is becoming increasingly unsustainable, including: streaming is becoming the default way to watch, with broadcast TV access and DVDs becoming obsolete; and the increase in ‘multi-watching’, whereby households are simultaneously streaming content.

These findings gained an interest from the Environment Editor at the Sunday Times, Jonathan Leake. Through correspondence with Mike and Kelly, Jonathan wrote an article on our work ‘Energy used in streaming one film on Netflix makes 60 cuppas’. It was also picked up by Channel News in Australia and The Sun, among others.  Following this, Kelly and Mike were interviewed by The Naked Scientists (article: ‘Video streaming habits affect electricity use’); the podcast created from this interview was aired on national radio BBC Radio 5 Live (Sunday 19^th May) and ABC Australia Radio (Friday 24^th May). Kelly and Mike participated in a live radio interview for BBC Radio Nottingham (aired the morning of Monday 20^th May). And finally, we answered a list of written questions for IBC365, an online publication for the media and entertainment industry (article: `The real green screen:  Is OTT putting pressure on the planet?’).  We really enjoyed talking about our work to these wider audiences, and hope that awareness of the issue surrounding Internet demand will start to increase.

For readers who want to find out more, you can read Lancaster University’s press release (‘Research sheds light on UK’s new unsustainable viewing habits’) or access our paper via the DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3290605.3300696.

In the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University, we are conducting a study into everyday use of the Internet, and how this might be shaped for the future.

The workshop will involve:
– Reflecting on your use of the Internet, particularly for watching, listening and social networking activities
– Discussing and designing solutions with other participants for adapting our use of the Internet

Please join us on Lancaster University campus (Science and Technology building A076) at one of the following times:
Friday 1^st March 2019 9am-12pm or Monday 4^th March 2019 6pm-9pm.                      

As a thank you for your time, a £10 Amazon voucher will be given to you.
Coffee, tea and biscuits will also be provided.

If you are interested in attending one of the workshop sessions, please contact the workshop organiser:
Kelly Widdicks
k.v.widdicks@lancaster.ac.uk