Abstract

The forecast for 2010 is that around 55 per cent of all employees in the
will be active in the information sector. In terms of employment figures, the information industry is already the third strongest sector in Germany. More PCs are now sold worldwide than TV sets. Beyond the core products of PCs and telephones, the rapid growth in the importance of information and communication (ICT) technologies is not limited to industrial applications; many consumer goods are also becoming increasingly "intelligent" thanks to processors. This is illustrated by the computing power in cars as well as the refrigerator that automatically orders milk or the microwave with Internet access that was shown at CeBIT '99. Despite this increase in importance, the associated material and ecological aspects of the path to the information society have so far received little attention. The IZT has carried out a comprehensive study on this topic on behalf of the Enquete Commission "Protection of People and the Environment" of the 14th German Bundestag.

Authors

Behrendt, Siegfried; Pfitzner, Ralf

Fields of research

Resources, economies and resilience