The Corona-Virus has pushed millions of people into the home office, the Online Commerce is a Boom town, and the demand for Online Play and series Streaming on the rise. From the point of view of the Federal environment Minister, Svenja Schulze (SPD) can citizens and companies learn a lot of things – and the sake of the environment is also maintained. “Nobody wants to see that life remains as it was during the pandemic”, said the SPD-politician in Berlin on Thursday. The digitization in the Job, but it could reduce commuting and business travel – the increase of the quality of life.

on behalf of the Ministry, the Wuppertal Institute and the consulting firm have an EY for an interim review of data collected, the feeding, what many feel, anyway: Where to contact restrictions apply, shifted a lot of things on the Internet. Less traffic, more energy consumption – and many of them go out of fear of contagion, but rather the car instead of the Bus or the train. It is still too early to say what the crisis months would be the bottom line for an environmental balance sheet, said Schulze. Political conclusions could already be drawn:

home office and video conferences instead of commuting and travel

a Good quarter of all employees reported in surveys of the University of Mannheim that you were temporarily in the home office. Contacts between colleagues and to customers were up in arms over the network: The operator of the largest German data node DE-CIX reported a doubling of the data streams for video conferencing.

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in contrast to previous crises, it could be from the point of view of the experts, well, that remains about the same. “It appears, in our view, realistic, durable, ten percent of all commuter traffic by an extension of the home office and thirty percent of all business trips by virtual Meetings can be replaced”, – stated in the interim balance sheet. “Overall, this would lead to a reduction of the passenger traffic to eight percent.”

Schulze is, therefore, a right to a home office and finds it good that investment in digital equipment to tax supported better. As for travel holiday, campaigned for beautiful destinations in Germany.

Online shopping instead of going to a Department store

in the middle of April 2020 were processed according to the Federal Statistical office per week, 60 percent more purchases online than in the previous year. At the same time, Google showed on requests from a growing interest in regional Online shopping. From the point of view of the experts about local Online have, therefore, platforms potential. This was encouraging, said Schulze. “We need to take into account in the future and the local retail trade is also according to support.

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Schulze said that the Online trade has to be sustainable. “What is lacking is a reliable, practical and easy-to-find information about the sustainability of products,” she said with a glance at Online stores and portals for price comparison. You will talk with search engine providers and portals.

Play, watch TV and make phone calls in the network

The DE-CIX Internet node in Frankfurt recorded according to the interim balance sheet in March 2020, a sudden increase of data traffic by around ten percent. The main reasons for video conferencing, the use of streaming services and Online games are. The consumed keep a lot of energy in data centers and in-house. “I am not one of those who say Streaming is the new fly,” said Schulze. There is a need for progress – for example in energy efficiency or the use of green energy. The world is better than your bad news – FOCUS Online provides you every Friday with the best stories from the field perspectives. Subscribe here for free Newsletter:

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