Environment Impact in IT

We have heard of several industries that contributes impacts to the global environment (Pollution). Industries like Manufacturing, Mining, Agriculture, Forestry, Food and beverages and many others are due to their resources, consumption and waste generation degrades the environment. But what surprised me the most is how IT industries too are part of the contributors of these environment pollution.

How does the IT industries impacts the environment?. For every data centers, it requires a massive amount of power and water to cool down. It is estimate that between 196 terawatt hours (TWh) and 400 TWh — about 2% of electricity worldwide — was used globally in 2020 to keep data centers cool “https://www.mida.gov.my/mida-news/data-centres-race-to-be-green/“. The consumption volume is varied yearly but this is the info I have found at the moment.

With such high voltage of electricity consumed, it contributes to pollution. Primarily through the production of electricity, the transmission and distribution process such as:-

• Greenhouse Gas Emissions – The release of Greenhouse gases that consist of Carbon Dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4) and Nitrous Oxide (N2O) through burning fossils fuels. This leads to Global warming and climate change. “https://dgtlinfra.com/data-center-water-usage/“
• Infrastructure – The traditional contributors of pollution, constructions of building power stations, or power lines. This causes deforestation, and disrupting the ecosystem.
• Water Usage – For cooling purposes, a large amount of water are used and effects the local’s water resources and aquatic life. “https://datacentremagazine.com/critical-environments/microsoft-reduce-data-centre-water-usage-94-2024 “
• Manufacturing – Mining rare earth metals and other materials for the sake of producing solar panels, wind turbines, and batteries causes resources depletion.

In conclusion, there has been recently many studies and developments of technology on sustainable energy solutions. The goals includes increasing energy efficiency, cleaner energy sources, and to reduce emissions and environmental footprints. Recently, One known effort to reduce the environment impact of Information Technology operations is called ‘Green Data’. In the next article, I will introduce and share information about the ‘Green Data’.