An apparently small innovation, useful for emitting less greenhouse gases, yet it has sparked yet another controversy on social networks. Apple introduced the Clean Energy Charging with the update of iOS operating systemthe version 16.1. Works only in the US for now e optimizes phone recharging based on the availability of renewable sources. When enabled, and the iPhone connected to a charger, the system uses the device’s location data to identify the carbon emissions generated by the local power grid. This information is used to modulate energy absorption during times that lead to lower carbon emissions, even if it takes longer to recharge. The system should also learn from our habits to optimize the process.
However, on Twitter some people objected to Clean Energy Charging branding it as a provocation of culture woke. The term, literally meaning “to stay awake” or “to stay alert,” has come into common use since 2017 with the Black Lives Matter movement. The American right uses it in a derogatory way to define the positions of the opposing side, even when it comes to environmental issues. And so, as already happened with “the 15-minute city” or the speed limits in city centers at 30 kilometers per hour, the new iOS 16.1 function has also become an ideological battleground.
The case
The latest delirium of climate deniers: 15-minute cities just to segregate the masses
by Jaime D’Alessandro
All battery-powered devices, especially smartphones, are designed to be particularly sparing in consumption, not so much for environmental sensitivity but to try to increase battery life. Among the many devices we use, they therefore absorb little energy compared to others, starting with refrigerators and televisions. Of course, if all smartphones in the world had a function similar to Clean Energy Charging, the reduction of emissions could also be significant. Just think that only in the United Statesaccording to the Washington PostThere are 118 million iPhones in use. And that means that recharging them from energy sources that use fossil fuels, equivalent to putting 85,000 vehicles on the road.
Actually the smartphonewhich according to the report Digital Green Evolution of Deloitte in one year they produce 146 million tons of greenhouse gases, they don’t pollute much for energy consumption. 83% of the CO2 issued comes from the construction phase, and Apple knows this well. A reduction in the effect of smartphones on the environment could come mainly from the prolongation of average life of the deviceswhich it is today estimated between 2 and 5 years. Nonetheless, electricity absorption also has its weight given the numbers involved: in 2022, the number of telephones in use worldwide was 4.5 billion.
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at Damon Beres
Apple’s move is a first step that the multinational intends to apply in the future to all the devices it produces. It seems to have taken its cue from what was presented by Joshua Bengio in December 2020. Parisian computer scientist by Canadian adoption, Turing Award in 2018 for his research on artificial intelligence, has launched an initiative that aims to reduce the use of energy in the world of algorithm development and management. “Consumption that generates enormous quantities of greenhouse gases, most likely,” he himself explained. “To get a sense of that and to come up with any possible regulation, you have to start measuring.” Thus was born the idea of CodeCarbon, created in the Montreal Institute for Learning Algorithms (Mila), together with BCG Gamma, Haverford College and Comet. It is a software open sourcelight and obviously free, which once installed on the computer estimates the environmental impact while developing software and machine learning systems that are the basis of theartificial intelligence. In fact, it establishes how many processors are used and in which geographical area you are, therefore whether you are using it or not energy from renewable sources.
Balancing supply and demand on the electricity grid is a delicate dance. Renewable energy, generally the cheapest option on the grid, tends to be deployed first. But it often fluctuates dramatically over the course of a day depending on availability. Surely if tools like CodeCarbon were applied to everything we use every day, whether electronic or not, it could make a difference.