Abstract
Information Society technologies are aimed at raising productivity while reducing time and costs of materials and energy for the economy. Specialists have also observed that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), which have become significantly cheaper, are in huge demand for individual (household) use. Individual applications of ICT in the European Union (EU) economy are leading to a growth in different human activities. Their impacts on the economies of EU countries are analogous to the well-known take-back (rebound) effect, which increases the efficiency of resource use. The aim of study is to reveal factors and spatial patterns of dissemination of ICT technology in the EU households and comparison of their electrical energy consumption. The study is based on the comparison of partial indices of the information society, an explanation of the energy rebound effect (take-back effect) and statistical analysis of spatial data using shift and share analysis, leading to a redefinition of the explanatory compound components (factor analysis), which in turn are visualized using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools.
Highlights
Institutions and individuals observing the global information society agree that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) ‘can be a development enabler, if applied and used appropriately’ and ‘is critical to countries that are moving towards information or knowledge-based societies’ (ITU 2009)
Research hypotheses assume that ICT growth in European Union (EU) countries during the last decade is the main factor in the growth of electric energy consumption and the relation between these phenomena is based on the take-back effect rather than a stimulation in the demand for energy services
Transformation of the initial input observed variables using a shift and share analysis followed by factor analysis revealed the latent components, i.e. factors interpreted as: the international impacts of the ICT sector, the international pattern of electric energy consumption impacts and, country specific patterns of electric energy consumption impacts
Summary
Institutions and individuals observing the global information society agree that Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) ‘can be a development enabler, if applied and used appropriately’ and ‘is critical to countries that are moving towards information or knowledge-based societies’ (ITU 2009). The aim of study is to reveal factors and spatial patterns of dissemination of ICT technology in the European Union (EU) households and comparison of their electrical energy. Research hypotheses assume that ICT growth in EU countries during the last decade is the main factor in the growth of electric energy consumption and the relation between these phenomena is based on the take-back effect rather than a stimulation in the demand for energy services. The study is based on the comparison of partial indices of the information society, an explanation of the energy rebound effect (take-back effect) and statistical analysis of spatial data using shift and share analysis, leading to a redefinition of the explanatory compound components (factor analysis), which in turn are visualized using GIS tools
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