It’s often assumed the Internet and digital transmissions are a more eco-friendly form of information distribution compared to legacy forms such as print, mail, fax, etc. But as further evidence of how everything has its impact and few things are truly black & white when it comes to being green, we have to keep in mind how the increasing number of data centers required to handle the massive information flows generated by the Web, and the super computers housed in those data centers, use massive amounts of electricity to ensure they don’t overheat.
Back in 2005, even before online video became ubiquitous, data centers consumed 1 percent of the world’s electricity. And despite efforts to make data centers more efficient, a study by McKinsey and the Uptime Institute estimates that by 2020 the carbon footprint of the super computers that run the Internet will be larger than that of the entire world’s air travel.
Back in 2005, even before online video became ubiquitous, data centers consumed 1 percent of the world’s electricity. And despite efforts to make data centers more efficient, a study by McKinsey and the Uptime Institute estimates that by 2020 the carbon footprint of the super computers that run the Internet will be larger than that of the entire world’s air travel.
And that doesn’t even include the power required to run every individual users’ PC or laptop in all those homes and offices.
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