At a conference that I attended yesterday, the keynote was on sustainability. One of the topics that was an eye opener for me was the energy required for our digital life. I’ve heard about the amount of energy required to mine cryptocurrency but did not understand it. Heck, I’m trying to figure out which Indian tribe runs Coinbase. 🙂
What this means is there is a need to reduce the file sizes of digital media that we send to other people. Do we need to send high-resolution photos when a lower resolution will look the same to most people? Do we need to send a graphical memento of appreciation when a thank you email will do? Do you really need to post that video?
There is no problem with large files if they are stored locally. But when they are stored in the cloud, your carbon footprint increases. I’m not sure how much of an impact my digital life has on my carbon footprint. I also wonder how the carbon footprint of data is calculated. It’s a small portion but also significant because the digital life of several billion data users adds up.
It is estimated that data centers use about 1% of electricity and transferring 1 GB of data produces 3 kg of CO2.
Equity - Environment - Economic Justice 