In a world where social media is rampant and is also a way of life, have you ever wondered how it is related to climate change? It might seem far-fetched but the internet accounts for 10% of the total global electricity consumption. This figure is expected to increase by another 10% in a decade.
What’s the environmental impact of the internet?
There has been a study conducted which found out that the internet, most surprisingly, is responsible for around 1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. This comes up to about 2% of total emissions across all other sectors.
The aviation industry also is also responsible for 2% of total emissions and this means that the internet has the same amount of impact. There has been talks about less flying etc. for the betterment of climate change but so it should also be time we consider alternatives and solutions to reducing carbon emissions caused by the internet.
Image from YaleNews
How does the internet create carbon emissions?
To know how we should reduce carbon emissions from internet usage, we first need to understand how the internet creates carbon emissions. Most people would find it hard to understand how something like a google search can cause carbon emissions. The truth of the matter is that the carbon footprint of the internet comes from various sources.
Firstly, the devices you use to access the internet all play a part in creating carbon emission. This includes your computer, laptop, smartphone, internet routers and more. The manufacturing and usage of these devices contributes to the internet carbon footprint.
There are also storage facilities for the internet, mainly data centers where information is stored and keeping the world connected. All the moving parts in these data centers all have a carbon footprint of their own.
Overall, each average internet user has a very small carbon footprint per individual action taken. This however, is magnified to a much bigger degree when we consider that over half the world’s population are internet users and makes the overall effect quite large. It is hard to calculate exactly how much carbon footprint you are leaving per click of your mouse as it depends on different factors like the devices you are using, data centers you are accessing and the source of electricity you are using.
Most people do not know how much their carbon footprint amounts to or how much impact they have made through their actions. To help people understand the impact they have made, Market for Good provides a certificate of impact for each purchase with us, to help customers visualize the impact they have made.
How the internet can help us fight the climate crisis
Whilst the internet is consuming a huge amount of electricity, there are still ways to mitigate this situation. In the recent years, there have been huge improvements in energy efficiency, so what this means is that even though demand for the internet has grown which means more work for data centers, their energy usage has not exploded with the growth of the internet. Data centers use electricity more efficiently than you can imagine, with tech giants also investing in using renewable energy as well.
The internet however does have some perks which do indeed help us reduce our carbon footprints and the best example are emails. Emails leave on average 1g of carbon footprint while sending a letter can be thirty times that value.
New technology like smart meters and other smart home technology can help the average homeowner to lower their carbon footprints and make their homes more energy efficient which goes a long way towards the fight against climate change.
Fighting the climate crisis is aligned with Market for Good’s vision and products that go towards helping this cause are constantly being on the lookout by us to update our existing catalog. Carbon emission has been a very hot topic in recent years and people are finding more innovative and creative ways to tackle this problem. Market for Good hopes that the items we will continue adding (products that will aid with reducing carbon footprint) will help the cause.
Ways to reduce your carbon footprint online
Shut down your computer when you are done using it. People tend to leave their computers on when they head out for a short while. We have to make sure that we are using electricity in our own homes efficiently
Unbeknownst to most people, devices that are plugged in but switched off still uses a small amount of electricity so it is advisable to unplug things like chargers when you are done with them or use smart plugs
Use smaller devices. Smaller devices use lesser power and things that can be done on your computer should be done on your phone instead. Phone apparels like chargers can also be made in a sustainable fashion or use less electricity
Choose a cloud that is backed by a pledge to decarbonise their clouds. Google, Amazon and Microsoft for example, have this pledge and they use renewable energy to power their data centers.
Use eco-search engines. Eco-search engines like Ecosia, although less well-known makes your searches green by using the profits generated from searches to plant trees around the world
