As technology continues to advance, energy consumption continues to increase. But what effect is technology actually having on climate change? In this session, hear from Tony Sudworth, Sustainability Lead at DWP Digital, who shares how technology can change and adapt to help tackle climate change, and achieve the UK’s Nationally Determined Contribution.
– Technology currently uses 10% of all generated electricity and accounts for 5% of green-house gas emissions.
– The demand for computing services is expanding at a breath-taking speed. The cloud-based computing market was $30 billion in 2017, rising to $76 billion in 2021.
– In 2018, we had 33 zetabytes of data worldwide. This is forecast to rise to 175 zetabytes by 2025 – it all has to be stored somewhere.
– In 2014, more than 146 million laptops were sold. In 2026, this is projected to be 197 million. Each one produces on average 422.5kg of carbon in the typical lifecycle.
– And up to 2027 there’s a projected 9.4% annual growth in super computing requirements, putting further pressure on cloud computing resources.
– So, how are we going to reduce our green-house gas emissions in light of this explosion in demand and where net zero commitments mean we need to reduce our overall emissions?
– Options being pursued now
– How to potentially extend the life of your devices
– The circular economy approach to computing
– Changes in working patterns
– What you can do to reduce the impact of IT infrastructure on the environment – and help save the planet from the potential ravages of climate change
It’s time to take action and make a change.
