The Sustainable Network

Chapter 11. Net Efficiencies: Maximizing Resources While Minimizing Waste

You have to think about "big things" while you're doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.

— Alvin Toffler

The network makes all kinds of things possible to promote environmental sustainability—smart buildings, intelligent transport systems, just-in-time supply chain management, and the list goes on and on. ICT enables many efficiencies that are creating the forecasts for potential carbon emission reductions in the 15–40% range.

What's a Net Efficiency?

Can't envision what these efficiencies might look like? You swipe your key card to get access to your office, and it sends a signal to the automated building management system. You hear a click unlocking the door and then the lights and air conditioning units turn on. When you exit the building, the lights and air conditioning adjust; if it's the middle of the day, they simply dim, and if it's the end of the day, they turn off altogether.

Or you stop at the convenience store to buy a jug of milk and the transaction is scanned and automatically uploaded to an inventory system, which waits until a certain threshold number triggers an order for a replacement shipment of milk. The guesswork is removed for the store manager. No longer does anyone need to estimate when they will need to order more milk. In fact, the inventory system database ...