A methodology for analyzing environmental tradeoffs for different travel and information communication technologies (ICT) options

The environmental impacts of the U.S. transportation and electricity sectors include air emissions and water consumption. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) such as advanced video teleconferencing can displace some meeting activities that have historically required transportation. While ICT typically reduces environmental impacts, in some cases there are non-obvious tradeoffs associated with replacing transportation with ICT. These tradeoffs are the consequence of the particular local electricity mix, meeting length, number of meeting participants, travel distances, travel modes, motive transport conversion technologies, and transport fuels. A methodology was created to directly compare the carbon dioxide emissions and water consumption from business meeting participation via travel or ICT. Quantitative outputs reveal both the expected and non-obvious environmental tradeoffs of these business activities and provide a basis for companies' decision-making processes.