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Raphael Thys
We are all using Internet on a daily basis, but we are too little to know and understand that Internet pollution is huge! It’s a real phenomenon, as devastating as civil aviation pollution and whose development is exponential.
What Is The Internet Pollution?
Internet pollution, or the impact of Internet on ecology is simply pollution caused by the operation of the Internet. For many, the Internet is synonymous with dematerialization. Yet, far from being dematerialized, the Internet is based on a physical infrastructure. Indeed, a whole network of cables, data centers and servers underpin the functioning of the internet:
1- With just over 300 locations (337 to be exact), London, England has the largest concentration of data centers in any given city across the globe.
2- 58 944 relay antennas are now installed in France and overseas territories.
3-France produces the equivalent of 45.72 kg of electrical and electronic waste per second
The Digital Activity Are Responsible For 2% Of The Planet’s CO2 Emissions
Sending an email, Using search engines, storing data pollute: the web generates today 2% of the CO2 emissions of the planet. And this is just the beginning of this new form of pollution. Indeed, within four years, digital pollution will represent 3 to 4% of carbon dioxide emissions … A situation that becomes alarming!
Did you know ?
It is possible to recycle our CO2 production.
Daily actions as simple as sending emails, surfing the internet, using search engines or storing data are therefore a real cost for the environment:
- Doing a search on Google emits the equivalent of 5 to 7 grams of CO2.
- The carbon cost of an email with a 1 MB attachment is 19 grams of CO2 according to the ADEME. It may seem marginal but if we take into account the entirety of the flow of emails in the world, the situation quickly becomes more than important. In one hour, more than twelve billion emails are sent, representing more than 4,000 tons of oil.
- One of the main forms of digital pollution is called “dormant pollution”. It’s due to the storage of emails. All emails stored in a mailbox make many servers run uninterruptedly in data centers. However, data centers are very energy intensive and need to be permanently air conditioned to be cooled. Thus, the data storage makes turn the equivalent of five nuclear power plants in the world! And this is just the beginning … Indeed, the volume of stored data doubles every two years.
Cleanfox, A Solution To Limit The Impact Of Internet On Environment
We decided to create Cleanfox , the web platform that allows all holders of a Gmail account to unsubscribe in one click from unwanted newsletters.
By unsubscribing from newsletters that you do not read, you limit your carbon footprint. Adopting Cleanfox is limiting the number of emails sent by newsletter senders. For each email that you no longer receive, you avoid the emission of about 10 grams of CO2 . This is not nothing since we can receive hundreds of newsletters every month.
Clean your mailbox here !
You can also read our article: 10 Scary Facts On The Carbon Footprint Of The Internet