High consumption of energy by data centers

We speak of the Internet Economy, the most flourishing productive sector of the moment, the productive sector that has changed our daily habits and greatly expanded our ability to interact. In the last two decades new actors have appeared on the scene, Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, Oracle, companies trading in electronic equipment, trade in "byte" which are light years away from heavy metals, oil and derivatives that have instead marked the economic history of the twentieth century.

The digital tools are less bulky than the old, heavy and bloated industrial machines. Many argue that they are also significantly less polluting, a position that now, however, is refuted by a survey conducted by the New York Times in collaboration with the consulting firm McKinsey. A year of research have brought the head to argue accusations decided against companies engaged in the computer industry. Companies that burn huge amounts of energy to transfer data to millions of users, about 30 billion watts of electricity worldwide, as the energy produced by 30 nuclear power plants.

Scary numbers that only a small percentage, a variable rate of between 6 and 12 percent, are intended to contribute to the computing capacity, the rest is dispersed in various other ways. We quote the transit of data to information highways long and cumbersome, another even more serious problem is represented by the data center, deliberately oversized to avoid falls by competitors of their systems. Data center extremely thirsty for power, and frequently fueled by old and polluting diesel engines. A paradox, in the 2.0 era.

One problem is not new, the first alarm was launched in 2007 by the EPA, the Environmental Agency of the U.S. government in a report sent to Congress in Washington. Since then, much progress has been made. Google, Facebook and Apple are perhaps those who are committed to the environment and more energy savings. Efforts recognized by some luminaries who point to how companies Digital burn so much, but not more than 1, 3 percent of the energy consumed globally (compared to 25% of transport).

In any case, the New York Times had the merit of having brought the world's attention on the matter. Even the digital realm has a negative impact on the balance of the environment, and serve specific investment policies to minimize this kind of impact.

 

12/11/2012

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Translated via software

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Source:

Italian version of CercaGeometra.it