EMPIRICAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE ENERGY AND INFORMATION SEGMENTS OF THE US ECONOMY - AN INPUT-OUTPUT APPROACH

'Maxwell's demon', in 1871, introduced in science the possibility of u sing information to generate free energy, Since that time researchers have been speculating about the implications of information for energy use, Recent studies indicate the substitutability between energy and information in the so-called information economies. These studies sugg est that information in general and information technologies in partic ular have the potential to save energy, In this paper an input-output approach is employed to search for empirical evidence of substitutabil ity between energy and information at a national economic level, The d evelopment of information activities in the United States economy is s tudied from 1963 to 1987 and the contribution of information to save e nergy is indicated, Results show an increasing presence of information activities in all segments of the economy and strong evidence of thei r contribution to energy savings. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Scien ce Ltd. All rights reserved.