Out of ecological awareness, we change many of our habits, we stop doing many things … Eating meat, taking the plane, driving on diesel. But more rarely control our relationship to electronic devices. However, a study reveals that digital technology has a disastrous impact on the planet, it emits more greenhouse gases than the aviation sector, according to data published in the journal Patterns.
The real problem with global warming is IT
Your smartphone is not solely responsible: your computer, your television, your iPad are also responsible. Not to mention data storage, which is extremely polluting. To compare, your electronic devices contribute to a greenhouse gas emission of 2.1%, storage amounts to 3.9%. Aviation? 2.5% in all, say the experts.
We tend to have more and more electronic devices and want them bigger and bigger: isn’t your smartphone more comfortable with a large screen? Imagine that this indicator plays on the quantity of GHG emitted, the bigger the screen, the more you pollute.
Making a TV is like making a Paris-Nice return trip
However, if the study is to be believed, to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees (set by the Paris Agreement), it would be necessary that the digital carbon footprint will fall by 42% by the year 2030. In other words, the reverse of what is happening, insofar as this sector continues to emit more each year. This curve cannot be reversed, unless there is major political consultation or major industrial efforts. Another possible option is to use green energy, which would reduce this impact by 86%.
This data includes a wealth of information on the entire lifespan of the device, from its manufacture, to its destruction, including its transport or even its energy consumption over the course of its life. Looking only the manufacture of a television weighing 11.4 kilos, the researchers estimate that the emission of greenhouse gases is identical to a Paris-Nice by plane (round trip). To get there, the authors of the study went further than what had been done before, believing that the estimates of GHG emissions had been made downward in the digital sector. They also specify that there are surprisingly few studies on atmospheric pollution due to digital technology at the present time.
Source: The real climate and transformative impact of ICT: A critique of estimates, trends, and regulations, Patterns; Futura Science, Global warming: the digital sector generates more greenhouse gases than aviation
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