Carbon emissions from computing are now approaching those of aviation, according to new research to be published on Monday.
The report, by environmental campaign group Global Action Plan, will say that IT now accounts for 10% of the UK's annual energy consumption.That is the equivalent of four nuclear power station's worth of electricity and 1 billion tonnes of CO2 worldwide.But unlike our budget-airline guilt, we seem to feel little eco-conscience in the office.
We print out enough paper every year to pile 8,000 miles high, almost half of which we will throw away and one in three of us never turns off our computer.
"When people think of carbon emissions they think of planes, they think of cars, but they don't think about the humble computer sitting on your desk," said Trewin Restorick, the report's author.
"But we need to realise that every time we use a computer it's helping to put more carbon into the atmosphere."
The scientific consensus is that we are already facing the prospect of catastrophic and irreversible climate change in the long term. But the report will say in the shorter term there is a danger the lights in the UK will quite simply go out.
"We're already hearing about companies within the city saying their growth is being restricted because we physically can't get enough energy into London, so we're restricting growth."
