Online services can benefit environment but products are more complex.
E-business can be good for the environment. But it risks being just as unsustainable as conventional①consumption.
The main environmental benefit could come from the transformation of solid products into services based on digital information， the study found. For example， going to the shop and buying a CD uses materials and energy equivalent to producing six aluminium②cans， but downloading a CD’s worth of music online uses less than three cans.
But if a computer user burns every tune they download onto a blank CD， or if they use broadband connections to download more music or stay online permanently③， they can consume more electric ity， fossil fuels， and mineralsand so on than someone who drives to the record shop.
Online products move the environmental burden from the producer to the consumer. There are no big gains for ordering products off the Internet. The small delivery trucks consume as much energy as going to the shops yourself would.
We need to change lifestyle and behavior—it is potential for improvement， but in the current system， you don’t see it.
The EU-funded project examined how information technology will change the way that business consumes energy and materials and produces waste.
Researchers in Germany， Italy and the UK worked with 11 business partners to calculate the environmental impact of products and services such as music， banking and handheld computers.
It’s exciting that sustainability④ is at the heart of the European Union’s policy development.
① conventional adj. 习惯的，惯例的
② aluminium n. ［英］=aluminum［美］铝[U]
③ permanently adv. 永久地，长期不变地
④ sustainability n. 持续性，能维持性，永续性
购物更富持续性
网上购物有助于改善环境，而且产品会更加丰富。
网上购物对环境非常有利，但是仍冒着与常规消费一样无法承受的危险。
环境收益主要是来自依据数字化信息而进行的固体产品运输。例如，去商店买一张光盘使用的原料和能量相当于制造6个铝制易拉罐，但是从网上直接下载这些音乐仅仅使用不到3个易拉罐的成本。
但是，如果电脑用户要将所有下载的音乐都拷贝到空白光盘上，或者如果经常使用宽带网络下载音乐或者经常到网上冲浪，这样做与直接驱车到唱片专卖店去买一张光盘相比，他们将消费掉更多的电能、煤炭、矿物质等。
网络上的产品将环境负担从生产商身上转移到了消费者身上。从互联网上订购产品，并不需花费多大代价。小型运货车与你亲自去商店所消耗掉的能量是一样的。
我们需要改变生活方式和行为习惯——这种改进的潜力很大，但是在当前的体制中，你根本看不到这一点。例如，绝大多数零售商人都已经建立了网络服务体系，而没有收缩他们现实生活中的营销系统。
欧元基金会已经就信息技术会如何改变商业消费能源和原材料以及产生废物的方式进行了仔细调查。
德国、意大利和英国的研究人员同11个商业伙伴一起计算了产品及其服务对环境的影响，如音乐、银行业和手提电脑等。
可持续发展将成为欧盟政策发展的中心，这是非常激动人心的。