Digital sobriety
2. How green is digital?
The energy footprint of information technology, i.e., the energy consumed to use all the digital equipment on the planet (servers, networks, terminals, mobile devices, etc.) is growing at a rate of about 10% per year. Digital devices are powered by electricity, so that they increase energy consumption. Large servers that store and process data require enormous electrical power to function and be cooled. Since a large part of electricity is produced from fossil sources, digital devices are responsible for production of CO2, increasing the greenhouse effect. Under the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the member states are encouraged to reform and make investments for sustainable and resilient societies, with a special focus on green and digital transition.
Some figures
A 1 MB email produces the same amount of CO2 produced by a 60 W light bulb switched on for 30 minutes. The increase in digital traffic is responsible for hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 added to the global greenhouse effect. In the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, the enormous increase in video streaming and the use of video conferencing and digital television dramatically increased these figures. The annual energy footprint of Argentina is lower than the digital footprint of digital technologies!
Information technology has an important energy and environmental cost: watching a video in the cloud for 10 minutes requires the same energy necessary to power 1500 mobile phones for the same time.
The IT sector represents about 8% of global electricity consumption. Forecasts on its energy demand plan a grow by 50% by 2030. However, the top 4 industries –Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google – are in the front line in the use of renewable energy. All of them either already use or have 100% renewable energy goals. In addition, Apple has also extended its renewable energy objectives to its supply chain providers.
Small steps for contributing to digital sobriety
ADEME, the French Agency for the digital transition (https://librairie.ademe.fr/cadic/6555/guide-en-route-vers-sobriete-numerique.pdf) has proposed some simple steps for reducing the environmental impact of digital technologies. Here their suggestions:
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Buy according to your needs
Europeans
change their smartphone on average every two years, while in most cases, they
are still in working order. Do you really need a new phone this often? Do we
really need all these new features, are new devices really that useful? The
first gesture of digital sobriety is to ask yourself these questions, and to
moderate the act of buying. If we make the choice to buy, then we can also
choose a device more suited to our daily needs.
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Prefer the second hand
When
buying a new device is essential, choosing a second hand is a more economical
and ecological option, which contributes to digital sobriety. There are more
and more companies that offer reconditioned products, that is, professionally
cleaned, checked, and restored. These products are a little more expensive than
simple second-hand devices but offer the guarantee of being in good condition
and of being able to function for several more years.
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Choose an easily repairable device
Making
a new device is very polluting. We must therefore try to keep these objects
when possible. During the life of a device, it can be repaired. However, our
devices are less and less made for this. Soldered batteries, components stuck
together, the inability to open the device, parts not found. Manufacturers
offer products that are still insufficiently repairable. This is part of what
is called planned obsolescence.
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Take care of your devices
If you
want to keep your devices as long as possible, you can adopt good use and
maintenance procedures. These actions would prevent 40% of breakdowns in
electronic devices. This includes protecting your phone or computer, not
leaving them in the sun or near a heat source and keeping their battery level
between 20 and 80%.
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Set up your device correctly
The
first instinct to limit the impact of using your device is to configure it
properly. For example, you can turn off connectivity options (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
4G) when not in use. Disable apps that are constantly consuming data when not
in use. For example, limit the use of GPS if it is not really needed. When you
want to use the internet, using the Wi-Fi network is also much less energy
consuming than using the 4G network.
o
Limit the use of video
To
reduce data consumption related to video usage, you can turn off auto play on
platforms like YouTube and Netflix. Slightly reducing the quality of the videos
viewed is also a good way to limit their impact, without losing reading
comfort.
o
Clean up storage spaces
All the
data we produce (photos, videos, text files) needs to be stored. When they are
online, in the cloud for example, they take up space in data centres that are
power hungry. To reduce the impact of storing this data, you can sort your
documents, keep only the essentials, delete your old emails (especially those with
an attachment) but especially your old photo or video files, or store as much
data as possible locally, on a hard drive for example.
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Repair rather than replace
While
it is often difficult to repair your devices yourself, you can leave them to
professionals. If the failure is due to a product defect, the legal guarantee
of conformity can be invoked within two years after purchase. If the fault is
elsewhere or if the warranty has expired, you can take your device to a
professional repairer or to a Repair Café where repairers will help you and
teach you how to fix it.
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Recycle as a last resort
You can
bring your electronic equipment to the seller who has the obligation to take it
back under certain conditions.
Ultimately, digital sobriety is something we must strive towards collectively. At a time when we can no longer afford to develop a new technology or a new use just “because we can do it”, society as a whole must ask itself: is this technology or is this usage “useful to us”? It is this notion of collective utility that offsets the environmental costs of a particular technology or use.