22 September REDUCE YOUR DIGITAL FOOTPRINT: IT IS POSSIBLE!
In a connected world, the benefits are golden for businesses. A simple click, and you are in contact with a Japanese customer and you open an online store in Canada.
It's one click for you, but hundreds more for the planet. All data, photos and messages are stored in servers that constantly consume electricity. To give you an idea, if the entire Internet represented a country, it would be the third largest consumer of electricity, behind China and the United States.
But then, what can this high consumption be due to and how can it be reduced?
Why are we talking about an increase in electricity consumption?
Internet use requires the presence of Data Centers better known as "Cloud Computing", which are data centers hosting the storage servers. The big web companies such as Facebook, Twitter or Amazon alone require an entire warehouse for the storage of their servers.
With some 9 billion connected devices in the world, data storage is critical. This is the reason why Data Centers are the cause of an increase in energy consumption in the world. In terms of numbers, they represent approximately 6% of global energy consumption.
Connected objects, rise of e-commerce, growth of social networks and websites; servers today store millions of millions of billions of bits. A figure barely pronounceable and yet very real. The companies of today's world are the main concerned since their methods of marketing, distribution and sales systematically go through the web. For example, for each email sent, nearly 10g of Co2 are released into the air and nearly 2 packs of water are then needed for cooling. When we know that an employee sends an average of 33 emails per day and that he receives nearly 55, the calculation is quickly made. All of these emails therefore contribute to global warming, and have the same carbon footprint as a plastic bag.
Not to mention the networks in general, extremely energy-intensive in terms of electricity. For example Google which produces no less than 7g of carbon dioxide per search. Consumption due to the many servers used to provide a consistent response to the user.
In terms of digital, sms, shared photos, online games, contribute to the saturation and development of even more data centers. This is why electricity consumption can only be seen to increase in the coming years. At this rate, in 2037, data centers will consume more electricity than the world can produce.
How to urgently reduce your digital footprint?
1/ Close your apps
A tab that has been opened, even if it is no longer consulted, continues to consume energy since it returns information. So, as long as an app is not serving you, remember to suspend it. In the same idea, put your devices on standby or turn them off in the event of a long break.
2/ Manage your emails
Regularly sort your emails, and install an anti-spam filter! This will allow you to delete unnecessary emails and thus limit your storage in the servers. Fewer emails = reduced electricity consumption. Also limit the number of recipients and attachments in order to emit as little Co2 as possible.
3/ Use the right search engines
More responsible and ethical alternatives to the classic Google exist! For example Écosia, which sets reforestation objectives, or Lilo, which allows Internet users to choose the projects in which they wish to participate.
4/ Pay attention to your equipment
Reduce the brightness of your screens, get refurbished or eco-designed devices! Indeed, a standard computer requires about 250kg of fossil fuels, 1,5 tons of water and 22 kg of chemicals; something to make you think about your next purchase!
Good resolutions, daily reflexes and a union around a common goal: all this is crucial to allow a reduction in our digital footprint and even if Google is committed to wind energy, it is in particular as a web user that we will be able to reduce this still unknown and yet so dominant pollution.