Concerned about your data use? Here is the carbon footprint of an average day of emails, WhatsApps and more
Vast datacentres are being built worldwide, amid growing concerns about the environmental costs. So should we all be considering a data diet – if not complete digital sobriety?
Nearly 20 years ago, the British mathematician Clive Humby coined a snappy phrase that has turned into a platitude: “data is the new oil”. He wasn’t wrong. We have an insatiable appetite for data, we can’t stop generating it, and, just like oil, it’s turning out to be bad news for the environment.
So the Guardian set me a challenge: to try to give a sense of how much data an average person uses in a day, and what the carbon footprint of normal online activity might be. To do that, I tried to tot up the sorts of things I and millions of others do every day, and how that tracks back through the melange of messaging services, social networks, applications and tools, to the datacentres that keep our digital lives going.
Continue reading...Topics
-
Route of the matter: your flight’s itinerary can dramatically change its carbon footprint
World - The Guardian - 6 days ago -
NHS staff use WhatsApp ‘constantly’ to share private patient data
Business - Financial Times - October 24 -
More in US concerned about Trump aligning with radicals than Harris: Gallup
Politics - The Hill - October 25 -
Here is what my final polling data says about the US presidential election | John Zogby
World - The Guardian - November 5 -
23andMe customer? What to know about the privacy of your genetic data.
Top stories - CBS News - November 13 -
Average age of first-time homebuyers is 38, an all-time high. Here's what that says about the real estate market
Business - CNBC - November 5 -
What to know about new polls, fresh Election Day data
Top stories - CBS News - November 4 -
Your A student is average — don’t blame the SAT and ACT
Politics - The Hill - October 26
More from The Guardian
-
Putin says Russia fired experimental ballistic missile into Ukraine
World - The Guardian - 44 minutes ago -
House committee reportedly told of second sexual encounter between Matt Gaetz and 17-year-old – live
World - The Guardian - 21 minutes ago -
ICC issues arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged Gaza war crimes
World - The Guardian - 2 hours ago -
Merkel: I mistook Trump for ‘someone completely normal’
World - The Guardian - 2 hours ago -
British lawyer is fifth person to die in suspected methanol poisoning in Laos
World - The Guardian - 1 hour ago