Because it seems intangible and immaterial, we do not imagine how much digital uses have an ecological impact . As for other sectors, digital must be cleaner, more transparent and more responsible. On the road to ecological digital!
Countless professional or personal emails, internet searches, video conferences, streaming videos, connected objects and soon the deployment of 5G... Ecological digital technology, which includes all these digital technologies, consumes around 6-10% of the world's electricity. This represents 4% of greenhouse gas emissions in 2019, and 8% by 2025, of which 47% are due to equipment and 53% to data centers and network infrastructures, according to ADEME (Ecological Transition Agency). The Shift Project, a think tank on the energy transition, offers solutions to move "from instinctive or even compulsive digital technology to controlled digital technology". Welcome to "digital sobriety"!
The environmental impact of computer equipment
The manufacture of miniaturized components of our computers, televisions, mobile phones and connected objects requires rare and precious metals, which can be dangerous for biodiversity and health. Their massive extraction contributes to the depletion of natural resources and is often carried out in deplorable conditions for the workforce, in areas where these operations are often the subject of geopolitical conflicts. The industrial transformation and end-of-life of all this computer equipment requires chemical treatments that pollute soil and water, because these metals are a real challenge for recycling. For example, manufacturing a laptop generates an average of 330 kg of CO 2
Responsible actions to adopt
- Keep your equipment longer
- Have them repaired rather than replaced
- Fight against planned obsolescence
- Buy used, reconditioned equipment that has been cleaned, serviced and checked
- At the end of their life, make sure to take them to a collection point so that they can be properly recycled (computer retailer, collection points, etc.)
Pollution from digital uses
Digital uses also have a large carbon footprint . When you send an email, its content is received in a data center that processes, stores and transfers the message to the network. After this transit phase, this message passes through another data center before being transmitted to the correspondent. By sending six emails, you emit as much CO2 as by driving 1 km. Another example: Even before the pandemic, it was estimated that video-on-demand services ( Netflix , Amazon Prime , etc.) represented a level of emissions equivalent to that of a country like Chile (source The Shift Project , 2019 report)
Ecological reflexes to follow
- Bookmark frequently visited sites to divide greenhouse gas emissions by 4 by going directly to the address of a site instead of going through the search. To do this, you can consult the history, create bookmarks, type the exact URL.
- Close web pages once the search is complete. Web browsers constantly refresh open pages, even when you are no longer looking at them. To do this, they use web servers that consume a lot of energy. So, close unused pages and tabs and regularly delete cookies to lighten the load on the computer servers.
- Empty your mailbox regularly and block spam
- Use WiFi instead of 4G on cell phones because WiFi places less strain on the network.
- Limit the weight of files. Optimize the size of documents sent as attachments, delete unnecessary attachments, put a link to the cloud or even better use a USB key.
- Uninstall unused applications on your mobile phone
- Moderate video streaming. Online videos represent 60% of the global data flow and are responsible for nearly 1% of global CO2 emissions . To reduce this growing impact: disable autoplay in the application settings, favor downloaded music over audio streaming, radio over music videos, and choose a reduced video resolution.
If businesses and public authorities have a major role to play in ecological digital technology, everyone can also participate in it on a daily basis in front of their screens.
To go further: Ademe guide to responsible digital technology
