Digital applications impact energy use through different mechanisms. The iDODDLE team have been mapping out these mechanisms and quantifying their relative importance. As examples: ride-sharing apps coordinate real-time demand with available supply; mobility-as-a-service platforms provide users with access to a service in lieu of having to own a car; digital food hubs substitute for supermarket shop; smart home systems enable greater control of domestic services. How do these different mechanisms – coordinate, access, substitute, control – perform? Our new paper uses statistical techniques on a large dataset of impact estimates to isolate the relative effect of each mechanism. Importantly, our analysis also controls for the wide variation in study designs that mean some estimates are much more robust than others. Our paper published in the Journal of Cleaner Production has the full results … but (spoiler alert) the graph shows that first prize goes to … substitute! Digital applications that substitute for a more energy-intensive activity result in the biggest savings in energy.
Access the full paper here.