Stanford Stats 252, Spring 2008 

i was thinking in today's lecture about transaction costs and how we keep hearing that transaction costs are virtually zero in the new economy. (I use 'transaction' loosely to refer to most, if not all interactions, such as information sharing)

But today Andreas said that he had read someone determined that 1 GB transferred = 1 block of coal (or something like that). So really transaction costs are not zero. I'm wondering if we can model the environmental cost into these new economies, and for example, charge people for the impact. And yet I can CRINGE to write that because I have grown up believing all content should generally be free. It could be difficult in some arenas to determine who should pay (for instance, Andreas uploading content for the class), But on the other hand, who should pay for this hidden cost? Or, does anyone know of any reading on this topic?