This method is costly for everyone, Matthews and colleagues write in Spectrum Magazine , a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. There might be some reductions in energy use, but there's a huge increase in packaging and shipping by air results in much more air pollution. Office paper use has doubled since the wide-spread use of computers so much for the promise of the paperless office. The economy is growing rapidly, but energy demand is much lower since the advent of the Internet. The Internet can turn buildings into Web sites and replace warehouses with supply-chain software, says Romm.
Information substitutes for energy.
At this point, e-commerce is only a fraction of the total economic picture, thus it isn't the reason behind reductions in energy demand, Matthews maintains. Huge new warehouses and distribution centers serving e-commerce operations are being built at an incredible pace, says Fishbein. And new retail space is still growing, despite predications that people won't visit malls as often. She worries that e-commerce is simply boosting consumption.