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the-true-environmental-cost-of-the-internet.md (2268B)

      1 <https://news.mongabay.com/2021/07/the-true-environmental-cost-of-the-internet-commentary/>
      2 
      3 > Let’s take a look at one activity, one that occupies even more time of
      4 > our lives than sleeping: the use of internet.
      5 >
      6 > [···]
      7 >
      8 > It is estimated that the internet represents more than 1% of the
      9 > world’s energy consumption, an amount greater than the total
     10 > consumption of several nations combined. This is predicted to grow in
     11 > orders of magnitude over the next decade.
     12 >
     13 > [···]
     14 >
     15 > It is estimated that 80% of the energy it relies on comes from fossil
     16 > fuels.
     17 >
     18 > [···]
     19 >
     20 > Microsoft, Google, Facebook, and Apple all have committed to using
     21 > 100% renewable sources of energy and of offsetting their emissions by
     22 > the end of the decade.
     23 >
     24 > [···]
     25 >
     26 > And the plans of offsetting emissions are often closer to purchasing
     27 > guilt-free PR.
     28 >
     29 > [···]
     30 >
     31 > the use, transmission, and storage of a gigabyte (GB) of information
     32 > represents between 28 to 54 grams of emitted carbon to the atmosphere.
     33 >
     34 > [···]
     35 >
     36 > The impact cannot only be measured in terms of emitted carbon but also
     37 > in the water needed to produce that energy through hydroelectric power
     38 > source.
     39 >
     40 > [···]
     41 >
     42 > the water (through hydroelectric power) required equal the amount of
     43 > water it would take to fill one million Olympic size swimming pools
     44 > per year.
     45 >
     46 > [···]
     47 >
     48 > Now, if we further evaluate that in terms of the space needed to house
     49 > the hard-drive equipment in the “data centers” [···] in sum,
     50 > everything on the web, it adds up to a space that equals the size of
     51 > New York City, Rio de Janeiro and Mexico City combined.
     52 >
     53 > [···]
     54 >
     55 > The number of internet users around the world is about 4.6 billion
     56 > people, i.e. more than half the global population.
     57 >
     58 > [···]
     59 >
     60 > streaming videos at high resolution (HD) requires 7 GB per hour and
     61 > equals close to releasing almost half kilo of carbon to the
     62 > atmosphere.
     63 >
     64 > [···]
     65 >
     66 > “if 70 million streaming subscribers were to lower the video quality
     67 > of their streaming services, there would be a monthly reduction in 3.5
     68 > million t of CO2, the equivalent of eliminating 1.7 million tons of
     69 > coal, or approximately 6% of the total monthly coal consumption in the
     70 > US”.
     71 >
     72 > [···]