The impact of technological innovations in the field of information and communication technologies on the environment

Abstract

The social and economic evolution of the last decades has led to the general use of information and communication technologies (ICT) with direct and indirect impact on environment. The current trend is to focus on the development of less invasive hardware for environment and software that should support the monitoring and protection activities of the human ecosystem. Beyond the amazing facilities provided by the technological innovations, the users’ behaviour should be rational and by means of individual and collective measures, it should result in positive medium- and long-term actions, so that the following generations might benefit from life standards at least decent from this perspective. The technological “explosion” in the ICT field should be used both for the improvement of life standards and for favourable actions on the environment, the more so as the specific achievements may be the key to solve these problems. This paper aims to identify the main influences of the innovations in the field of information and communication technologies upon environment, the way in which they could be used in pro-environment measures and to state recommendations in view of mitigating the negative effects of these technologies on the human ecosystem.