Most of what we put online is only used once and then is soon forgotten, like funny pictures (memes), jokes, and videos we share with our friends. All this data goes into huge computer buildings called data centers that use too much electricity.
Why Should It Matter?
By 2030, this is set to be nearly 6% of all electricity usage within the UK. This is a major worry as the overuse of electricity can harm the environment and worsen climate change.
What the Researcher Discovered
Ian Hodgkinson, who is a professor at Loughborough University, researched this issue. He discovered that:
– 68% of data that companies are flooded with never finds its way back into the circulating library.
– You might think that saving stuff “in the cloud” has no environmental impact, but it does
– Every photo, status update, or electronic mail that one saves requires energy and “generates a carbon footprint”
Why Not Just Delete Stuff We Don’t Need?
Of course, companies that offer online storage services do want us to keep everything. The more we save, the more money there is in it for them. But now we are paying to keep stuff that we will never use again.
What Can We Do to Help?
Professor Hodgkinson recommends doing some of the following:
- Write fewer unnecessary emails.
- Stop hitting the “Reply All” button so often.
- Consider discarding old photos and files that you do not need anymore
What One Meme Won’t Hurt?
No one photo is the end of the world. However, when millions of people take millions of pictures of which they never find good use, it becomes quite remarkable.
What is the Big Picture?
We might require more energy than all the world’s renewable sources within just a year or two if we fail to act regarding changes in usage and ways of data storage. That can be a scary thought.
The professor just wants to think before saving or sending anything across the Internet. If we were more careful with our data, we could help fight climate change.
