This year again, for Sustainable Development Week, e-RSE.net is committing by participating in No Impact Week, a key event to raise awareness among consumers and employees about sustainable development issues, both at work and in life. This year, among the themes addressed is green technologies, with one question: How can technology and innovation be used to benefit the environment and ecology? While the question may seem simple on the surface, putting it into practice isn’t always so straightforward. However, in your daily life, at work, and in your personal life, it’s possible to harness technology to better protect the planet. Here are 5 tips on how to do it.
1 Don’t believe that technology is always eco-friendly
When we think about the relationship between technology and ecology, we tend to only see the positive: how the internet helps reduce paper use, how technology can produce renewable energy, how we can invent technologies to store carbon… We end up thinking that technological progress is almost always beneficial for the environment. But that’s not true!
Indeed, very often, technology has a very significant impact on the ecosystem. For example, the Internet, which is often seen as an eco-friendly technology because it is dematerialized (no paper, less transport), is extremely polluting. The environmental impact of the Internet is between 2% and 7% of the planet’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all of global aviation. It also consumes a large amount of metals, non-renewable resources, and other materials. This is due to the manufacturing of equipment (computers, servers) as well as the energy needed for data centers. Another example is e-readers. We often think that they are eco-friendly because they avoid printing books (and therefore cutting down trees), but in reality, they often pollute more than paper books. As for renewable energies, while they are indeed very useful for the ecological transition, they also have their share of impacts on the environment (for more information: Are renewable energies ecological? ).
We must, therefore, be aware that most technologies, even if they are called “eco-friendly,” are not always environmentally friendly. Sometimes, their impact is even considerably higher than a low-tech alternative. Just because a company releases an electric flying taxi, a revolutionary system for storing carbon, or a solar charger doesn’t mean it’s truly environmentally friendly. You have to look at the energy return rate and compare material consumption, and it’s generally more complicated than you think. So before turning to a technological solution for ecological reasons, get informed: this isn’t necessarily the case! This is important because it helps put into perspective a paradigm that is sometimes very damaging to the environment.
2. Learn the right actions to use technology in an eco-friendly way
Once we’ve become aware of this, the second step is to learn the actions that allow us to limit the environmental impacts of technology. To take the example of the Internet: just because the Internet is very polluting doesn’t mean we should stop using it; on the contrary, we must learn to use it correctly to limit pollution. Thus, studies show that streaming videos consumes the most energy on global Internet networks. Limiting streaming, viewing, or adapting image quality can, therefore, be way to limit the environmental impact of the Internet. We can also take many other actions to limit our data consumption, whether on computers or mobile phones: browsing eco-designed sites, using eco-designed apps or software, etc.
The same goes for using your email or your computer: all these technologies can be used optimally to reduce their energy consumption, preserve their lifespan, and therefore limit their impact on the environment. For example, you can adopt green IT eco-actions. Or digital eco-actions to reduce your ecological impact.
3. Use technology to measure and optimize
However, technology can be useful when it allows us to measure data that is otherwise difficult to understand and to optimize it. There are many examples: some companies are using big data and artificial intelligence to measure and predict pollution peak d thus combat air pollution by adapting traffic conditions, for example. Others are using data management enabled by new technologies to streamline road traffic and anticipate and better plan the movements of company vehicle fleets to reduce CO2 emissions. There are dozens of ways to use big data to make businesses more sustainable.
And it’s also possible at the individual level. For example, there are now digital systems that can measure energy consumption in homes to optimize and adapt it: connected thermostats, home automation, and connected electricity meters… All of this can help avoid a certain amount of waste by using technology and data to identify and prevent it. Provided, of course, that these technologies themselves are optimized to avoid consuming too much energy and resources.
4 Putting new forms of communication at the service of the environment
Many initiatives are now based on new communication technologies for this purpose: IFREMER, for example, has launched an app that allows citizens to provide testimonies on microalgae blooms. This application allows everyone to get involved in coastal protection. Around the world, there are collaborative and participatory programs that use online networks to quantify and evaluate environmental changes: the Global Biodiversity Information Facility ( GBIF ) or Vigie-Nature of the Museum of Natural History for animal biodiversity and Tela Botanica for plants. These features are increasingly expected to develop around the world to help scientists better understand the climate, nature, biodiversity, etc. Visit this page to find out about the apps or programs you can participate in. There are also mobile applications that allow us to better understand the state of the environment around us: Qualité Rivière, which allows us to know the situation of French waterways in real time, or INPN Espèces, which allows us to explore biodiversity in the territories.
5 – Choose innovation (high-tech or low-tech) to serve the planet
Most often, the best way to be environmentally friendly is to avoid buying high-tech items. But sometimes technology, digital technology, and innovation can also improve our production and consumption patterns, despite everything. As consumers, we have a role to play by choosing technologies based on an ecological objective. They exist almost everywhere! Whether it’s choosing a renewable energy supplier, an eco-designed phone, micro-irrigation systems for your vegetable garden, or even eco-driving apps, we can all choose more environmentally friendly products, most often thanks to techniques like eco-design.
We must also not forget that there are low-tech innovations that can greatly improve our environmental impact. This is the case, for example, in the home, of daylight well systems or natural insulating materials that allow for better lighting and heating without wasting energy. We need to rethink our vision of technological innovation if we want to be eco-friendly. Don’t choose a product just because it’s innovative or technological, but only if its technology allows for real savings in energy and resources. Of course, it’s not necessarily easy to take the step of informing ourselves to this extent, but if we want to do something for the environment, it’s essential!
