[governance] FW: Toward Reducing the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the Internet and Telecommunications

Sun Jan 6 15:55:43 EST 2013

Michael,

To be doing the climate bill accounting right, you need to look at the total climate bill of the Internet ecosystem. This means rather than just looking at the one side of the balance (energy costs of Internet servers) you should also look at the energy savings of individuals and corporations using the Internet in more energy conscious ways. 

For example by reducing emissions because people can work from home over the net and need not drive to work every day. Or the savings derived from making conference calls and video conferences with application sharing instead if traveling by car or plane to meet in person. Or the savings by not requiring local off-net servers because the apps and data have been more efficiently moved into the cloud into those server farms. 

This would be a good subject for an academic study. And the results, if they stand up to peer review and fact and methodology checking, could well be shared and discussed at a future IGF. 

Regards,

Peter 

On 06.01.2013, at 21:19, "michael gurstein" <gurstein at gmail.com> wrote:

According to recent calculations the Internet is the source of some 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions (and increasing quickly). Much of this comes from the vast server farms that major Internet corporations (eg. Google, Amazon etc.) have been establishing around the world. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130102140452.htm

Perhaps a topic for discussion at the next IGF?

M

-----Original Message-----
From: davidicus [mailto:bigbluearth at gmail.com] 
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2013 11:09 PM
To: ciresearchers
Cc: michael gurstein
Subject: Toward Reducing the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the Internet and Telecommunications

This story in Science Daily may be of interest to some CI Colleagues.
~d

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Toward Reducing the Greenhouse Gas Emissions of the Internet and Telecommunications

Jan. 2, 2013 — Amid growing concern over the surprisingly large amount of greenhouse gas produced by the Internet and other telecommunications activities, researchers are reporting new models of emissions and energy consumption that could help reduce their carbon footprint.

Their report appears in ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Researchers from the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications
(CEET) and Bell Labs explain that the information communications and technology (ICT) industry, which delivers Internet, video, voice and other cloud services, produces more than 830 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, annually. That's about 2 percent of global CO2 emissions -- the same proportion as the aviation industry produces. Projections suggest that ICT sector's share is expected to double by 2020. The team notes that controlling those emissions requires more accurate but still feasible models, which take into account the data traffic, energy use and CO2 production in networks and other elements of the ICT industry. Existing assessment models are inaccurate, so they set out to develop new approaches that better account for variations in equipment and other factors in the ICT industry.

They describe development and testing of two new models that better estimate the energy consumption and CO2 emissions of Internet and telecommunications services. They tested the models on a simulated network and on a deployed network that serves the majority of schools in California. Both models delivered better estimates than the current "top-down" models. The researchers suggest, based on their models, that more efficient power usage of facilities, more efficient use of energy-efficient equipment and renewable energy sources are three keys to reducing ICT emissions of CO2.

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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

Journal Reference:
Chien A. Chan, André F. Gygax, Elaine Wong, Christopher A. Leckie, Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas, Daniel C. Kilper. Methodologies for Assessing the Use-Phase Power Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions of Telecommunications Network Services. Environmental Science & Technology, 2013; 47 (1): 485 DOI: 10.1021/es303384y

Web address: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130102140452.htm    

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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================================
D a v i d    S a d o w a y   BES, MRM
PhD Candidate
Department of Urban Planning & Design
The University of Hong Kong
Email:  one1earth at hku.hk
(852)2859.2721
--------------------------------------------------------
Visiting Associate
Center for Asia-Pacific Area Studies
Academia Sinica (Taipei, Taiwan)
Email: bigbluearth at gmail.com
(886)2929.2948
================================

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