IT ISNOT BLACK-AND-WHITE TO SAY
“DIGITAL COMMUNICATION ISGREEN”
AND “PRINTCOMMUNICATION ISNOT.”
BOTH FORMSOFCOMMUNICATION
HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS.
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“GoPaperless,” “GoGreen” and
“Save Trees” are common themes
thesedaysasmany corporationsand
governments encourage their customers
andemployees to switch toelectronic
transactionsand communications.
Our research shows thatmore than
8 in 10U.S. consumersbelieve that cost
savingsare thedriving forcebehind the
‘gopaperless’marketinghype, and
manyare suspicious ofmarketing claims
that goingpaperlesswill ‘save trees’ or
‘protect theenvironment.’
24
•
It is estimated that small network
equipment inAmerica’s homes
consumedmore than $1 billionworth
of electricity in2012, equivalent to the
output of three large (500MW) coal
firedpower plants. This resulted in
5millionmetric tons of CO
2
emissions
or theannual tailpipeemissions of
1.1million vehicles.
25
•
Data centersareoneof the largest
and fastest growing consumers of
electricity in theUnited States. In2013,
U.S. data centers consumedan
estimated91 billion kilowatt-hours of
electricity –enoughelectricity topower
all thehouseholds inNew YorkCity
twiceover –andareon-track to reach
140billion kilowatt-hoursby 2020.
26
•
A studyby Two Sides found
that half the leading Fortune500
telecommunications companies,
banksandutilitiesweremaking
unsubstantiated claims about the
environmental benefits of electronic
billing. In response, Two Sides initiated
a campaign toeducate senior
executives on the sustainability of print
andpaper and toencourage them to
abandonmisleadingenvironmental
claims. Todate, over 30 companies
have removed their environmental
claimsand severalmoreareworking
with Two Sides todevelop language
that does not containmisleadingor
factually incorrect environmental
claimsabout theuseof online
transactionsand communications.
28
“It is estimated that globally,
20-25million tonnes of
e-wastearegenerated
each year and theamount
is still growing
very rapidly.”
Aliaset al.
27
Visit
for the full fact sheet
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