• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
Celebrating our 1,000th edition. The climate news you need
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  FEATURED
Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use June 26, 2022
BREAKING: UN Nature Summit, the ‘Paris Conference for Biodiversity’, Moves to Montreal in December June 19, 2022
‘LET’S SUE BIG OIL’: Legal Team Launches Class Action Campaign for B.C. Municipalities June 17, 2022
‘It Could Have Been Any of Us’, Colleague Says, After Brazil Confirms Murders of Bruno Pereira, Dom Phillips June 17, 2022
Infrastructure Gap a ‘Life and Death’ Matter as Northern Canada Warms June 17, 2022
Next
Prev
Home Climate News Network

Internet energy impacts on climate

August 19, 2016
Reading time: 3 minutes
Primary Author: Alex Kirby

Home monthly broadband data volumes rose by almost a fifth in the UK last year.

Home monthly broadband data volumes rose by almost a fifth in the UK last year.

 

New research warns that the growing reliance on smart technologies is leading to a rapid rise in internet energy demand that will push up carbon dioxide emissions.

LONDON, 19 August 2016 – Switch off your computer, dust off your old typewriter, sharpen all the pencils you can find, lay in stocks of postage stamps − and that’s just the start.

Our immersion in the digital society – and particularly our growing reliance on the Internet of Things – could mean uncontrolled demand for energy and spiralling emissions of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases that are driving climate change.

Researchers from the School of Computing and Communications (SCC) at the University of Lancaster, UK, say the growth of remote digital sensors and devices connected to the internet – the Internet of Things – can cause unprecedented and, in principle, almost unlimited rises in the energy consumed by smart technologies.

They warn that the world now needs to consider how to limit data growth on the internet.

Streaming programmes

In a discussion paper, the scientists say internet usage has increased significantly in the last few years, with people watching more video, streaming programmes on 4K ultra high definition smart TVs, regularly checking their social media accounts, and even using online social media to track their runs and bicycle rides.

Ofcom, the UK telecommunications regulator, says home monthly broadband data volumes in the UK rose from 17 gigabytes in 2011 to 82GB in 2015. Data volumes for mobile devices are typically smaller, but they too are growing rapidly and more than doubling every few years, according to the IT and telecommunications companies Ericsson and Cisco.

This increase in data use has meant a rise in internet energy use, despite improvements in energy efficiencies. The Lancaster team says current estimates suggest the internet already accounts for 5% of global electricity use, but that it is growing faster − at 7% a year − than total global energy consumption, which is increasing at 3% annually. Some experts predict that information technologies could account for as much as 20% of total energy use by 2030.

“This growing consumption is a significant concern
in global efforts to reduce carbon emissions”

Up to now, the team says, there has always been a potential ceiling for increases in data on the internet. These include the finite, although growing, number of people on the planet, and the limited number of hours in a day that people can use online technology.

But the autonomous streaming of data by billions of sensors built into everything from street furniture, driverless vehicles and smart home thermostats to industrial production processes such as oil wells removes these potential constraints to growth.

Dr Mike Hazas, a lecturer at Lancaster’s SCC, says: “The internet is consuming an increasing portion of global electricity supply, and this growing consumption is a significant concern in global efforts to reduce carbon emissions.”

Speed limit

The researchers believe society needs to think hard about how to limit data growth before the forecast growth of the Internet of Things happens. There are currently 6.4 billion connected Internet of Things devices, a figure estimated to reach possibly 21 billion by 2020.

“The Internet of Things is still in the making and it is important to consider existing ideas for a ‘speed limit’ to the system, especially in comparison to having to retrospectively reduce internet traffic in the future,” Dr Hazas says.

The idea for a speed limit to the growth of internet data was originally put forward by Kris de Decker, a technology journalist who is now a visiting scholar at the Demand Centre, which researches end use energy demand.

The Lancaster authors acknowledge that it is not clear how data limits could be imposed, but say options could include volume quotas and different traffic pricing for the most data-intensive online services. – Climate News Network



in Climate News Network

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

stux / Pixabay
Air & Marine

Big Seven European Airlines Lag on Reducing Sky-High Emissions: Report

June 13, 2022
72
Ars Electronica/flickr
Solar

Unique ‘Smartflower’ Microgrid to Power Saskatchewan High School

June 13, 2022
150
http://midwestenergynews.com/2013/10/24/as-pipeline-concerns-mount-a-renewed-focus-on-the-great-lakes-enbridge-mackinac-line-5/
Pipelines / Rail Transport

Line 5 Closure Brings Negligible Rise in Gas Prices, Enbridge Consultant Finds

June 10, 2022
203

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

David/flickr

U.S. Supreme Court Expected to Gut Emission Controls as Climate Scientists Petition for Plan B

June 26, 2022
580
Graco/Facebook

Soaring Fertilizer Prices Could Deliver ‘Silver Lining’ For Emissions, But Farmers Struggle to Limit Use

June 27, 2022
116
Konrad Summers/Kern West Oil Museum via Wikimedia Commons

Imperial Oil Backs Lithium Recovery Project in Alberta’s Leduc Oilfield

June 26, 2022
97
pxhere

Environmental Racism Bill Passes Second Reading in House of Commons

June 26, 2022
79
stockvault

Animal Agriculture Could Reduce Future Pandemic Risk, UK Researchers Say

June 26, 2022
73
Gustavo Petro Urrego/flickr

Colombia’s President-Elect Has ‘Ambitious’ Plans to Halt Amazon Deforestation

June 26, 2022
67

Recent Posts

Adam E. Moreira/wikimedia commons

Suspend Transit Fares, Not Gas Tax, Climate Advocates Urge Biden

June 26, 2022
55
moerschy / Pixabay

Pandemic Drives Up Support for Climate Action, Pessimism About Elected Leaders

June 26, 2022
27
hellomike/flickr

No Public Input as Canada Finalizes Climate Plan for Airlines

June 27, 2022
37
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Southeast Asia/wikimedia commons

Japan, Korea Sell Vietnam on Gas Amid Crackdown on Climate Activists

June 26, 2022
22
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Barrow_Offshore_Wind_Farm

Global Offshore Wind Pipeline Doubles to 846 Gigawatts

June 26, 2022
38
TAFE SA TONSLEY/Flickr

U.S. Renewables Industries Scramble to Reuse, Recycle Before Waste Volumes Skyrocket

June 26, 2022
63
Next Post
A cold water geyser from an unplugged oil exploration well drilled in 1936 into a CO2 reservoir in Utah

Rock-solid carbon storage hopes rise

The Energy Mix

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}