More data, more appetite for energy

Climate Economy

More data, more appetite for energy

by Jim Gold | Jul 31, 2021

From China and the U.S. to Europe and Australia, the ever-growing demand for online data is taking a huge bite out of water and energy resources. When you search Google, upload a picture of your precious grandchild to the cloud, stream “Gunpowder Milkshake” on Netflix or order a Big Mac from your phone app, you’re leaving a carbon footprint.  The global growth in online activity requires a huge amount of energy. Data centers account for about 1% of the world’s energy and 2% global CO2 emissions, about the same as…

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