Experts call them dark data, obscure data: this is “all the information that organizations collect, process and store during normal commercial activities, but which are then no longer used for other purposes”. Translated, an incredible amount of data – which often represents most of the totality of data – produced and used very little, but still kept optional. Conservation that requires computers, servers, infrastructures: that is, energy.
Italian Tech Week
From batteries to energy communities, startups test the ecological transition
by Jaime D’Alessandro
A lot of energy: according to the latest estimates, the IT department, worldwide, will consume about 20% of all energy produced by 2025 and will be responsible for 5% of total carbon dioxide emissions. It is for this reason that Tom Jackson e Ian Hodgkinsonlecturers of knowledge management and strategy at Loughborough Universitythey recently introduced the idea of “digital decarbonization”: “With this concept”, they explain on The Conversation“we do not intend to promote the use of telephones, computers, sensors and other digital technologies to reduce an organization’s emissions. Quite the contrary: what we are referring to is the reduction of emissions due to digital data. It is crucial to recognize that digitization itself is not an environmental problem; but there are major environmental impacts that depend on how we use digital processes in daily work activities “.
The phenomenon is reaching increasingly important dimensions: to illustrate the impact of dark datascientists have for example shown that i data center they have a’carbon footprint higher than that of the aviation industry. An “average” company, for example an insurance agency, a department store or a bank where 100 people work, can generate up to 3 thousand gigabytes of dark data every day: keeping them for a year corresponds, in terms of emissions, to flying six times from London to New York.
Environment
Smart working is decreasing and for the environment it is a problem: consumption and CO2 emissions are rising
by Jaime D’Alessandro
Bringing this calculation back to the global level, the experts estimated that companies currently produce nearly one and a half billion gigabytes of dark data each day, the equivalent of 3 million flights between London and New York. And they even developed an online calculator to estimate the “cost” (again in terms of carbon dioxide emissions) of a company.
Emissions
The fourth nation in the world. Here is how much the web consumes
by Jaime D’Alessandro
“The rapid increase in the amount of dark data products globally “, the experts conclude,” raises big questions about the efficiency of current digital practices. We hope that our work will help raise awareness on the issue and expand the movement of digital decarbonization, in which we should all be committed if we really want to reach net zero in emissions. “You can also start from your own little one, for example by getting rid of photos, e-mails and documents that are no longer consulted Every file counts.