A closer inspection, however, reveals a net environmental impact that's decidedly mixed, according to Scott Matthews, a research scientist involved in assessing environmental impacts of technology at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. But every book ordered on the Web is heavily packaged and travels on a transportation network that taps many resources. 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. Warehouse shipments to customers require more packaging and increase delivery costs. The economy is growing rapidly, but energy demand is much lower since the advent of the Internet.
Information substitutes for energy.
Air delivery is more costly and adds to pollution. 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.