Dematerialization

Explore the Mind Map to learn about Dematerialization!

One important feature of ICT regarding to sustainable development is dematerialization. The SMART 2020 report published by The Climate Group in 2008 postulates a “strong emphasis on the significant opportunities offered by dematerialisation” and states in this context: “Our study indicates that using technology to dematerialise the way we work and operate across public and private sectors could deliver a reduction of 500 MtCO2e in 2020 - the equivalent of the total ICT footprint in 2002, or just under the emissions of the UK in 2007.” [1] A graphical illustration of this estimation is given in figure 4.2.
This indicates that the potential of emissions savings through dematerialization is estimated to be quite large. It could also be a main concept to arrange further growth and development with a lower intensity of environmental impact. This implies a higher level of efficiency achieved by learning by experience and a declining consumption of goods and energy because of dematerialization [2].

Figure 4.2: The potential impact of dematerialization [1] 

When dealing with dematerialization enabled by ICT, it has to be distinguished between products and routes of transport, although the borders between these categories are not completely sharp. For example the e-initiatives of governments (e-government) could be classified by both taxa, because they dematerialize the use of paper, as well as routes of transport, since citizens save travel ways to governmental departments by using online services. In this taxonomy the approach of the e-government is classified as dematerializing routes of transport, because the paperless office is considered as a separate concept, which is obviously a product-dematerializing concept.

Although the ability to replace physical products and processes is assumed to be one of the big environmental benefits of ICT, there is some kind of uncertainty regarding to the real potential of dematerialization in the future. The success of every kind of technology strongly depends on adoption, which cannot be predicted in preposition [1]. As an example, the idea of the paperless office goes back to the age of early personal computers in the 1970’s [3], but its distribution is still in development due to difficulties in adoption. With the introduction of electronic mail the usage of paper was expected to decline, but users tended to print their mails at the office, so that paper consumption actually increased [4]. Therefore the future impact of dematerialization will among other things depend on the inertia of consumer habits and the incentives for adoption for businesses.

References

[1] The Climate Group. Smart 2020: Enabling the low carbon economy in the information age. Technical report, The Climate Group on behalf of the Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI), 2008.

[2] J.H. Ausubel and P.E. Waggoner. Dematerialization: Variety, caution, and persistence. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), vol. 105 no. 35:12774–12779, 2008.

[3] Business Week. The office of the future. Business Week, June 1975.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080526_547942.htm 
Accessed: 2013-02-12.

[4] A. J. Sellen and R. H. R. Harper. The myth of the paperless office. MIT Press, 2003.