ABSTRACT
Early research on the potential for trade-offs between telecommunications and transportation networks was commissioned by the US government in the mid-1970s in response to the energy crisis (see Nilles et al., 1976; Harkness, 1977; Meyer 1977). Much of this early work simply compared the energy costs associated with communications through the telephone and physical forms of communication such personal travel by car, train and aeroplane. Figure 6.1 presents a logarithmic assessment of the energy costs of different forms of communication. The energy savings associated with communications by telecommunications created much excitement about the potential for trade-offs between telecommunications and transportation. Rather than people or information goods and services needing to physically move between different locations electronic images, messages, data and faxes could directly substitute for these trips. These findings helped to fuel Utopian and futuristic images of new clean and environmentally benign societies in which telecommunications could simply substitute for travel, generating significant energy savings, reductions in travel time, lowering levels of emissions and urban congestion.
