The Internet is Gassy

Information communications and technologies (ICT), such as the Internet, account for approximately as much carbon dioxide emissions as the aviation industry, or roughly two percent of the global total, according to research by the consulting group Gartner.

As telecommunications use around the world continues to expand rapidly, their share of emissions may grow. However, ICT also may make other industries more efficient and reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions, experts say.

Jonathan Koomey, a researcher at the Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance at Stanford University, told Discovery News that electricity use by computers was relatively modest compared to the energy they help save.

“Total electricity use for data centers was about 1.3 percent of global electricity use and two percent of U.S. electricity use in 2010, but that should help us use the other 98 percent of the electricity more efficiently, so on net, data centers probably reduce emissions,” said Koomey. “Long-term trends for computers show a doubling of efficiency every 1.5 years, a trend that has continued since the beginning of the computer age... .We're also shifting more towards mobile devices, which are much more efficient than their wired counterparts.”

“Turn off your computer at night and on weekends when not in use, enable your power management software, and use the Internet to help you avoid unnecessary errands and travel,” he said. "That should yield reduced emissions compared to the case where you didn't have a computer at all."

Greenhouse gas emissions from energy use by the Internet and related technologies were quantified in the mathematical models recently published in Environmental Science and Technology.

The use of ICT services dominates the sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, compared to the emissions associated with building the infrastructure, Thas Nirmalathas, study co-author and engineering professor in the University of Melbourne, Australia’s Centre for Energy Efficient Telecommunication (CEET), told Discovery News. Developing a standardized system for monitoring efficiency could reduce those emissions.

Operators and equipment manufacturers could then be able to use that information to improve designs.

In developing economies, such as India or China, providing Internet and other services could signifigantly increase the greenhouse gases attributable to ICT.

“The spread of ICT in the developing world is sharply rising,” said Nirmalathas. “Therefore we need to recognize that the ICT use by developing countries will be a significant portion of the carbon footprint of the ICT industry."

Read more at Discovery News