Green Zombies?

I wanted to point out an interesting take on the GeSI study on the energy-saving possibilities of household broadband use that I blogged about earlier. Noted Corporate Responsibility analyst Elaine Cohen blogged about the study and its conclusion that western countries could reduce their energy use by 2 percent  through widespread use of the Internet to telecommute, shop, download entertainment and conduct business online from home.

She asks the following questions: "Will we all become Internet geeks?" (Spoiler alert: Yes.) and "Will we all become dehumanized zombies?" (Another spoiler alert: No. It will free us to do more interesting things.)

That 2 percent reduction, admittedly a best case scenario, is equivalent to pulling 55 million cars off the road. Cohen notes that “a significant collective reduction in energy consumption is within our collective reach.” She concludes that “We can all become geeks, gain personal benefit and make a positive impact.”

The GeSI study, titled Measuring the Energy Reduction Impact of Selected Broadband-Enabled Activities Within Households, was sponsored by Verizon, BT, Deutsche Telekom and Ericsson.

Cohen’s blog post can be read in its entirety on CSR Wire blog. A recorded webinar discussing the results of the study is also available on the CSRWire website.