Estimation of Videoconference Performance: Approach for Fairer Comparative Environmental Evaluation of ICT Services

This paper investigates the issues that need to be considered when comparing the environmental impacts of videoconferences and face-to-face meetings. The first part of this paper deals with how the total environmental loads including ripple effects were evaluated. The results show that about 80% less CO
₂
is emitted from a face-to-face meeting than from a videoconference. More than 95% of the CO
₂
emissions from a videoconference arise from ripple effects, such as the extra time and money used for other business activities. The second part covers a new method for correcting the environmental burdens related to the different functions of a virtual meeting and a real meeting using a "performance indicator". The performance indicator has three components, achievement, comfort and satisfaction, and is evaluated with user questionnaires and experimental results