Green IT Did Not Take Place

The Translation of Environmentally Friendly IT in Japan

抄録

This paper discusses the development of Green IT in Japan using Actor Network Theory (ANT). Green IT is a comprehensive concept of ICT related environmental load-reducing activities, but is translated into each context in different ways by different actors. In Japan, the concept was first introduced around 2007. Various actors, such as ministries, promotion councils, electronics companies, and telecommunications services companies, contributed to constructing the concept of Green IT. Green IT initially meant the reduction of carbon emissions through energy saving. After 2011, however, Green IT gradually gave way to the concept of “Smart” as a way to resolve power shortage after the Fukushima disaster. By using ANT, our paper analyses this historical development and situates Green IT as one part in a Japanese energy saving network, which seems to be stable notwithstanding the variety of labels attributed to it.