ISP Planet's Alex Goldman, attended this year's Freedom to Connect (F2C) conference. Here's his coverage of second Carbon Negative Internet session.

Click here for Part 1 and Part 2.

F2C: Back to Reality
by Alex Goldman

At the Freedom to Connect conference, the new companies were more pessimistic about our chances of survival than were the representatives of Cisco, BT, and Verizon.

First to the podium was Robin Chase, founder of Zipcar. Like the representative from Verizon, she would argue that using her company's services saves the environment, but her argument was far more credible. She started by saying that the environmental situation is more dire than we usually admit. She said that politicians and presidential candidates promise change by 2020 or 2050, and noted that on January 21, 2009 the U.S. will initiate a cap and trade system for carbon trading. It may be too late.

She related how Jim Hansen (the climate change scientist that NASA tried to silence) told her that if emissions peak in 2015, we will have a 50 percent chance of averting catastrophe, but that if they peak in 2018, we will have a zero percent chance of averting catastrophe.

"Cap and trade will do nothing in that time frame. I would like to see a carbon tax. That really changes behavior."

Chase said that 20 percent of carbon dioxide emissions come from the use of cars, and an additional 9 percent from making them, but that Americans refuse to change the way they use cars.

"Why do people want to talk about light bulbs? It drives me out of my mind! The residential utility bill is 17 percent of emissions, and lighting is about 13 percent of that."

With Zipcar, people can use cars selectively and appropriately -- using a smaller car when they don't need a larger one, for example.

Another company Chase founded is GoLoco, a website that helps people share transportation. This, too, she says helps reduce the cost of travel and its carbon footprint.

Next up to the podium was famed green blogger Bill St. Arnaud, of the Green Broadband blog. The project St. Arnaud is working on is Canada's advanced network, CANARIE. He advocated powering the internet of the U.S. with renewable energy in Canada, a proposal that drew some skeptical responses from his primarily U.S. audience.

"Incremental changes are not enough. A major crisis is due. We need substantial changes now," he warned.

He said that the standard server of today is roughly equivalent in annual energy use to an SUV.

"By 2010, half of data centers will have to relocate or outsource. By the end of 2008, 50 percent of all U.S. data centers will have insufficient power and cooling."

Action is possible, he said. "We have got to reduce our own carbon footprint. I believe that we can make it close to zero. Secondly, we need to use the internet, with applications and services, to promote or induce our customers to reduce their footprint."

He then went on to post a red letter warning: BUT BEWARE OF TELCOS BEARING ENVIRONMENTAL GIFTS.

First of all, he warned of Jevon's Paradox, which says that increased efficiency reduces cost and thereby increases demand. Telcos are asking for subsidies to build big monopoly broadband networks, but they will deliver efficiency, not environmentalism. "You'll soon see a big push in all sectors to make government put a lot of money into broadband."

Renewable power, he said, is not practical for most industries, but is suited to the internet. "Data centers can be moved to remote locations where renewable power such as hydro and wind remains untapped."

Brad Templeton posted the following joke to the back channel, Canadians for Global Warming. It's a mixture of two photos, one from a Canadian island south of Toronto, and the other from Hanalai in Kaui'i, Hawaii.

One poster in the back channel complained, "so far, the only speaker who has told me anything that ordinary people can do about global warming was Robin."

Back on stage, St. Arnaud said that other green initiatives will fail:

• Sin taxes simply go to the coffers of government and fail to address the problems they tax, much like the tobacco settlement


• Carbon offsets have potential but the market is harmed by shady players


• Carbon rewards for good behavior would be more effective than carbon taxes

Finally, he posted more red letters, saying that it's unlikely that the triple play or quadruple play will underwrite fibre deployment EVEN WITH STRUCTURAL SEPARATION. He said that it is possible to provide a free Gbps strand to each home if you bundle the fiber bill with gas and electric. "If you reduce your utility bill, you get fiber for free."

David Isenberg concluded, "Even if we have already lost, we're here because we have to keep fighting. We believe we have to change the government, stop stupid wars."