Here's Goldman's report:
Freedom to Connect: Verizon and the Carbon Negative Internet
by Alex Goldman
At this year's Freedom to Connect conference, David Isenberg said that the internet has to save the world. He invited both old companies and innovators to address environmentalism.
Isenberg introduced the session by noting that we who run the internet are putting a lot of carbon into the air. The internet industry causes about 2 percent of carbon emissions, roughly equivalent to the airline industry. Natural causes are responsible for about 30 percent of emissions.
"I believe that we can use the internet to reduce total emissions by at least 2 percent and probably a lot more than that," Isenberg said. "That's why I call this panel and the next the carbon negative internet."
The first green session featured the old style companies: Verizon, British Telecom (BT), and Cisco. First to the podium was Kathy Brown, Verizon's vice president for public policy and corporate responsibility. At press time, the slides for her presentation are available here.
She pointed out that policymakers worldwide already know that broadband creates jobs and growth and added, "now we need to show that broadband helps the environment as well."
"We are not going to reach the efficiencies we can without broadband in our homes and communities."
Brown was eager to talk about the rest of the carbon usage. "Let's not just wring our hands about the 2 percent we use. What if information and communications technologies (ICT) could reduce part of the 98 percent? Efficiencies are generated when we move down the thermostat, use CFC light bulbs, plant a tree, and recycle. Why isn't broadband on this list?"
She said that a study by the American Consumer institute said that telecommuting, telecommunicating, e-conferencing, and e-conservation could, combined, save about 11 percent of carbon generated.
A member of the audience asked what e-conservation was. It turns out that it's a nifty spin on downloading. If you download the contents of a CD instead of using sneakernet to transmit the data on a CD, you have conserved carbon equivalent to the cost of producing the CD.
For telecommuting and teleconferencing, she said, you need fiber speeds, at least 20 Mbps symmetrical (which, coincidentally, is the speed to which Verizon throttles its FiOS).
Brown said that the Long Island Power Authority conserved a 10 to 15 percent of energy costs with a wireless, internet-connected thermostat. Researching this on the internet, we find that the program was launched in early 2001.
Verizon claims to be "doing our part" with initiatives such as a paperless office and hybrid vans.
Attendees had two issues with this presentation in the back channel.
First, she was addressing problems other than the one posed by Isenberg, about how to make the internet infrastructure itself green. Closely allied to this was a cynical response to the notion that saving the planet involves buying more Verizon broadband.
Secondly, attendees pointed out that while Verizon is eagerly rolling out fiber in residential neighborhoods, it is not rolling out broadband for business, which needs the same services and could pay more for them. Cynics guessed that Verizon doesn't want its fiber network to compete with the business services offered over its legacy copper.