In 2016, for instance, Japan’s IP traffic grew 24% year on year, bringing the power consumption of data centers in the country up to 16 TWh, according to “Implications of Information Society Development for Energy Consumption (Vol. 1),” a 2018 proposal paper published by the Center for Low Carbon Society Strategy (LCS) of the Japan Science and Technology Agency. Quantitative assessment of the impact of ICT expansion on society and power demand is an important issue for the future. Although such analysis from the technical aspect has been made at LCS and other research institutions, the approach from the consumption side has been limited as to what kind of demand has pushed up information traffic.
　This proposal paper firstly analyzes how communications traffic has been increasing based on the existing statistics. Second, it examines how the spread of teleworking amid the Covid-19 state of emergency has affected information traffic in Japan. The paper also makes quantitative analysis of the impact of such work-style changes on commuting time and energy consumption. These analyses are used to predict how telecommunications demand will change in line with social changes. Finally, the paper suggests that attention should be paid to increases in power consumption resulting from not only the electrification of the existing energy services but also the additional demand due to the expansion of computerization and telecommunications resulting productivity improvement and work style changes.