Digital Sustainability
More and more areas of our everyday and professional lives are shifting into the digital realm. Documents are being digitized, invoices are no longer printed, and files are simply moved to the cloud—all under the premise of sustainability. While many of these processes initially have positive effects, some quickly lead to the so-called rebound effect. The rebound effect refers to situations in which the potential savings from efficiency improvements are not fully realized or only partially achieved. For example, efficiency gains are reduced when email inboxes are never cleaned out, photos are not sorted, and a large language model (LLM) is used just to check the cafeteria opening hours. The same applies not only to individuals but especially to large companies and organizations, whose data centers now consume a significant amount of the world’s water and electricity resources—with an exponentially increasing tendency. To ensure that digitalization also benefits the environment, we would like to use this website to raise awareness of digital sustainability, introduce relevant initiatives, and provide tips and tricks that can be used by individuals and organizations alike.