A Structural Analysis of the User Behavior Dynamics for Environmentally Sustainable ICT

TL;DR

A critical review of the literature and systems thinking, a structural analysis of ICT is performed and various sustainability measures of all three categories are proposed, focused on user devices and their ecosystems.

Abstract

The sector of information and communication technology (ICT) can contribute to the fulfillment of the Paris agreement and the sustainable development goals (SDGs) through the introduction of sustainability strategies. For environmental sustainability, such strategies should contain efficiency, sufficiency, and consistency measures. To propose such, a structural analysis of ICT is undertaken in this manuscript. Thereby, key mechanisms and dynamics behind the usage of ICT and the corresponding energy and resource use are analyzed by describing ICT as a complex system. The system contains data centers, communication networks, smartphone hardware, apps, and the behavior of the users as sub-systems, between which various Morinian interactions are present. Energy and non-energy resources can be seen as inputs of the system, while e-waste is an output. Based on the system description, we propose multiple measures for efficiency, sufficiency and consistency to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts.

Figures (6)

• Figure 1: ICT consists of user devices, communication networks, and data centers with the according hardware and software components. Within this work, the aim is to design measures for environmentally sustainable ICT to achieve sustainable production and consumption, climate action and protection of life on land.
• Figure 2: Flows of the resources from their sources to waste sinks. Efficiency measures target to change technical components to reduce the resource usage, while sufficiency measures target to achieve changes within the demand to limit the resource use. Consistency measures additionally aim to close material loops and change the energy usage to renewable sources.
• Figure 3: ICT can be modeled as a complex system.
• Figure 4: Average lifetime of smartphones over time, worldwide.
• Figure 5: Average lifetime of smartphones in different regions, 2022.