| Lernziel | Learn about the impact of digitalization on energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental sustainability in general, with special emphasis on the subtler implications of rebound effects.
Learn to review scientific literature, to deliver a scientifically sound presentation respecting the allocated time, and to produce a scientific report. |
| Inhalt | In recent years, “digitalization” became a widely discussed phenomenon in popular media. In business contexts, it now stands for the broad use of digital information and communication technology (ICT), and the subsequent induced change in business operations or whole business models (“digital transformation”). This ongoing process encompasses technological developments such as distributed sensing, ubiquitous wireless communication, the Internet of things, big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, 3D printing, robotics, or automation. Through its ubiquitous and profound effects, digitalization is often restructuring or disrupting economic processes and social practices.
Given its vast capabilities, digitalization is frequently hailed as a key ingredient towards environmental sustainability. By optimizing existing processes or substituting them altogether, digitalization can lead to substantial reductions of carbon emissions as well as energy and resource use. Despite this potential, however, the sometimes spectacular efficiency gains induced by digitalization bear at their very core the poisoned gift of rebound effects. In economics, “rebound effects” are an umbrella term defining a variety of mechanisms that reduce or even overcompensate the savings from improved energy or material efficiency. In a nutshell, positive initial effects make a product more attractive (through lower prices or added benefits), which is in turn likely to spur demand for that same good or service (which became more attractive), or also for other products due to the increased disposable income or time.
This seminar will highlight selected aspects of this interplay between digitalization-induced environmental benefits and their rebound-based countereffects. The first two presentations will introduce digitalization and (the several types of) rebound effects, respectively. After analyzing the mechanisms by which digitalization can bring about environmental benefits, a couple of presentations will compare environmental chances and perils in several domains enabled or deeply affected by digitalization: teleworking, e-commerce, sharing economy (e.g. Uber, Airbnb, bicycle sharing), autonomous driving, last-minute booking, and just-in-time production. |
Leistungskontrolle als Semesterkurs