Contributing to the creation of guidelines for calculating and evaluating the effectiveness of ICT in reducing environmental impactsDeveloping environmental impact assessment systems that enable calculation of the environmental impact reduction effect of ICT services provided by the NTT GroupCalculating and standardizing the effectiveness of ICT services in reducing environmental impacts
ICT services are known to be effective in reducing CO2 emissions
by helping to minimize the movement of people and goods
and the use of paper and other office supplies. However, until
recently no standardized methods for calculating such environmental
benefits existed.
The NTT Group has long been researching the effectiveness
of ICT in reducing environmental impacts, and put its expertise
to good use by providing its ideas on the calculation of the
environmental impact of communications networks and actively
participating in a work group of the Japan Forum on Eco-efficiency.
This working group was established with the support
of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry to draft the
Guideline for Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
Eco-Efficiency Evaluation released in March 2006.
These guidelines, the first unified standards for evaluating reductions
in environmental impact attributable to the introduction
of ICT, recommend the use of life cycle assessment (LCA)
as a methodology. They consider the impact of network infrastructure
and software used to provide ICT services in addition
to that of the ICT equipment itself, and describe the methods
used to calculate those impacts.
These guidelines help ensure objectivity, since evaluations can
now be carried out based on a common standard for the impact
of ICT services on the environment. For enterprises that
have implemented ICT, the guidelines can serve as a useful
and effective tool for restructuring management and business
operations as well as implementing measures to counter global
warming and address other environmental issues.
In conjunction with the completion of these guidelines, the Japan
Forum on Eco-efficiency has also prepared a pamphlet entitled
ICT and the Global Environment, which provides an easyto-
understand explanation of the use of ICT services in addressing
environmental issues. NTT contributed to the creation
of this pamphlet in various ways including the provision of real
life examples of ICT services that offer major environmental
benefits, together with benefit assessment results.
Calculations performed by NTT based on the guidelines indicate
that the use of ICT services during fiscal 2005 resulted in
a reduction of energy consumption that equaled 1.8% of Japan's
energy consumption. They also showed that overall energy
consumption reductions increased by approximately 0.4% over the previous year.
The NTT Group aims to promote its Vision for Environmental
Contribution through using the guidelines to calculate and evaluate
the effectiveness of ICT in reducing environmental impact
and use concrete data to show the benefits of ICT.
Please also see Feature 2: Using ICT to Reduce Environmental Impacts.
Initiatives
Developing an environmental impact assessment system for ICT services
Quantifying the effectiveness of ICT services in reducing environmental
impacts is a job that could up to now be done only
by an expert, but the NTT Information Sharing Laboratory
Group has developed a tool (named Kankyo Shiro) that enables
anyone to carry out such calculations.
For example, to evaluate the effect of deploying a teleconferencing
system, all one has to do is input the locations participating
in teleconferences and the number of times they are
held, and the system will then automatically display the volume
of CO2 emissions generated when a teleconference is
held, the volume of CO2 emissions generated were the same
meeting to be held face-to-face, and the total reduction in CO2
emissions made possible by implementation of the teleconferencing
system.
The NTT Group is now using this system, which fully complies
with the Guideline for Information and Communication Technology
(ICT) Eco-Efficiency Evaluation published by the Japan
Forum on Eco-efficiency, to provide customers with information
about the reduction in environmental.
The environmental impact of B FLET'S and FOMA
The NTT Information Sharing Laboratory Group has evaluated
the environmental impact of B FLET'S and FOMA, major
ICT services offered by companies in the NTT Group.
This evaluation was performed by comparing the volume of
CO2 emissions generated through the use of 19 different services,
including e-mail, e-zines, music downloads, and Internet
banking services, available through B FLET'S and FOMA with
those generated if such services were provided using earlier
means.
Results showed that the use of B FLET'S enables a reduction
of approximately 46% in CO2 emissions. The yearly reduction
in emissions for use of a single B FLET'S line worked out as
93 kg, and calculations based on the number of B FLET'S
subscribers as of the end of fiscal 2005 showed an annual
reduction of 320,000 tons of CO2. Using FOMA would reduce
CO2 emissions by approximately 79%, which works out as a
yearly reduction of 120 kg in CO2 emissions. Calculations
based on the number of FOMA subscribers as of the end of
fiscal 2005 showed an annual reduction of 2.82 million tons
of CO2.
The environmental assessment of a utilities bill payment service from NTT DATA
Kofuri-kun is NTT DATA's service for the payment of utilities
bills via automatic bank transfer and notification of those transaction
details. Use of this service eliminates the need to go to
the bank to make payments as well as the need for paper invoices
used in such payments. Although use of this ICT service
does result in the generation of CO2 emissions attributable
to the consumption of electrical power, they are much smaller
than the CO2 emissions generated by the movement of
people and other factors, as a result of which the use of Kofuri-
kun enables a net reduction of 57.8% in CO2 emissions.
NTT DoCoMo's Remote Power Monitoring and Demand Adjustment System
NTT DoCoMo provides the communications infrastructure for Omron Corporation's Remote Power Monitoring System as one of its initiatives to reduce environmental impacts through its mobile multimedia services.
Omron's Remote Power Monitoring System monitors electricity consumption around the clock, and sends e-mail alerts to the PCs and mobile phones of managers when demand is predicted to exceed preset targets, enabling managers to adjust equipment electricity consumption. The system can also be set to control electricity consumption by automatically shutting down equipment or making other adjustments as demand approaches the preset targets.
This system is supported by the stable, high-speed communications enabled by NTT DoCoMo's FOMA mobile phone network.
It is estimated that the deployment of this system by a company will reduce its electricity consumption by approximately 3%.
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Electronic voting system earns ECO-LEAF Type III Environmental Label
NTT EAST's electronic voting system was certified with the ECO-LEAF label environmental label in 2005-the first Eco-Leaf certification to be obtained by a company in the IT systems industry.
Eco-Leaf environmental labeling is an environmental certification system established by the Japan Environmental Management Association for Industry in 2002 for the disclosure of environmental data for the entire life cycle of a product, from raw material extraction to production, distribution, use, disposal and recycling. The environmental data is created according to the program rules designated for each product.
The Eco-Leaf environmental label program is aimed at encouraging businesses to develop, manufacture, and sell products with lower environmental impacts, allowing purchasers and users to choose environmentally friendly products over other goods, and thus contributing to the creation of a sustainable society.
Compared with conventional voting systems, electronic voting systems not only speed up vote counting and boost voter convenience, but can also make a considerable environmental contribution by reducing the consumption of paper used in voting.
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(right) Electronic voting system environmental information
