How can you reduce your digital carbon footprint?
Peter is our Cloud Infrastructure Lead at Good Energy. Part of his role involves overseeing how much energy we use in our server network (aka The Cloud) – and how we can reduce its carbon footprint.
In this article he shares three top tips for individuals wanting to reduce their digital carbon footprints.
1. Don’t store data that you don’t need
Did you know that 90% of data never accessed again after 3 months of creation? Yet it’s stored indefinitely in energy-hungry data centres that are growing in number every year.
Many of us enjoy taking photos and videos of our daily lives. Assuming all these moments can be preserved, our ancestors will have an amazing record of life on Earth right now.
But backing up all these files in The Cloud (for example: iCloud, Google Photos) is hugely increasing global demand for storage and energy.
So what can you do about it? Next time you’re tempted to scroll through your social of choice, make a conscious decision to go back through your photo library instead. Enjoy the memories and at the same time clear out things you don’t need. Accidental screenshots? Delete. Duplicates? Pick one, delete the rest.
This simple technique will help reduce your digital carbon footprint and give you the chance to enjoy your photo library again. You can also automate some of this work, using software that detects and deletes duplicates.
2. Care for your electronic devices
A mobile phone’s production and transportation accounts for around 80% of its lifetime carbon footprint.
To keep the impact of a digital device low, it’s important to keep that device in use for as long as possible.
A few simple tips for extending your device’s life, and therefore limiting your digital carbon footprint, include only charging it to 80% to maintain battery health, considering repair-ability when you buy a new device, and supporting your local repair cafe.
The rest of your device’s lifetime carbon emissions come from charging it. A simple way to reduce this impact is to switch your home to a renewable energy provider, like Good Energy.
Once you decide to upgrade, hand your used device onto friends or family, or sell it to be re-used or recycled. Recycled materials are far less carbon-intensive than new materials, yet only 17% of electronic waste is currently recycled worldwide. You may be surprised at the price you will get for even a very old phone, due to the valuable materials it’s made of.
3. Know when to not use AI
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has burst onto the digital scene as the next big thing. However, this intelligence doesn’t come from nowhere. AI involves very large data centres consuming large amounts of energy, hardware and water – and not all of that energy is renewable.
Our advice is to be mindful of what you ask of AI. If you’re after something simple, then a keyword search on Google is far less energy intensive than a short Q&A with AI.
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