In my last post I looked at the change in electricity generation. That got me thinking - how is energy consumption changing? Beyond just "energy efficient light bulbs" - but sectoral and industry change. That led me to the rise of Digital, and the disruption and challenges it brings with it. So I decided to do a brief post on what that may mean for the future outlook of energy consumption.
The Digital Economy has a number of contested definitions, with its increasing establishment in the "normal running" of things blurring the line between the digital and traditional economies. Put simply, it is the economy that grows from digital computer technology. The digital economy is continuing to grow at a rapid rate, as networks expand and networked devices proliferate.
This has introduced several sources of energy consumption, with one of the largest drains being data centres - facilities that hold computer systems (like servers). Data centres are required by every big company, the likes of Google and Microsoft have sprawling data centres with vast energy requirements. In 2012, these data centres alone accounted for 2% of global energy consumption, and at the time the annual growth rate was 4.3% - it is now likely higher (Aroca et al., 2014). Alongside these large-scale installations, the Digital Economy brings energy drains in the form of phones, laptops, desktops, smart watches. Every download and upload, whether it's a film on your laptop or an internet-connected fridge, comes with an energy cost.
Cloud computing also brings with it an "always on" capacity. More traditional appliances, such as ACs, had a limit to how long or how much you would use them. With cloud computing, with connections spanning households, borders, time zones, the demand for the services are ever present, and so is the energy consumption (Walsh, 2013). There has been considerable research into making data centres more energy efficient, not only because of the environment, but also because of costs. Aroca et al.'s (2014) research focused on optimising server function and components to minimise energy usage.
More granular research has also been conducted with Weber et al. (2010) establishing carbon dioxide emissions from different methods of music delivery. Direct downloading being by far the least energy intensive process. However, this research did not look at the usage of downloaded music and how it may differ. Is the era of downloads and streaming also encouraging further energy consumption with Wi-Fi speakers and Smart TVs?
Alongside the more technical solutions to the Digital Economy's energy requirements, it is also important to understand the behaviour of consumers. Hertwich (2005) conducted research into the rebound effect - the possible behavioural and systematic secondary impacts that can 'offset part of the environmental gain' of more environmentally-friendly products and services (e.g. downloading music rather than shipping physical CDs). Hertwich concluded that in fact 'ripple effects' is a better term than rebound effects, as the secondary impacts can actually be positive.
The Digital Economy therefore will be of increasing importance to energy solutions in the future, and work is well underway to keep emissions down as they are so closely linked to costs. How the Digital Economy can in fact reduce carbon dioxide production is still being researched, as a lack of physical copies and products does not necessarily translate into significant, if any, emissions reductions.
The Digital Economy has a number of contested definitions, with its increasing establishment in the "normal running" of things blurring the line between the digital and traditional economies. Put simply, it is the economy that grows from digital computer technology. The digital economy is continuing to grow at a rapid rate, as networks expand and networked devices proliferate.
This has introduced several sources of energy consumption, with one of the largest drains being data centres - facilities that hold computer systems (like servers). Data centres are required by every big company, the likes of Google and Microsoft have sprawling data centres with vast energy requirements. In 2012, these data centres alone accounted for 2% of global energy consumption, and at the time the annual growth rate was 4.3% - it is now likely higher (Aroca et al., 2014). Alongside these large-scale installations, the Digital Economy brings energy drains in the form of phones, laptops, desktops, smart watches. Every download and upload, whether it's a film on your laptop or an internet-connected fridge, comes with an energy cost.
Cloud computing also brings with it an "always on" capacity. More traditional appliances, such as ACs, had a limit to how long or how much you would use them. With cloud computing, with connections spanning households, borders, time zones, the demand for the services are ever present, and so is the energy consumption (Walsh, 2013). There has been considerable research into making data centres more energy efficient, not only because of the environment, but also because of costs. Aroca et al.'s (2014) research focused on optimising server function and components to minimise energy usage.
More granular research has also been conducted with Weber et al. (2010) establishing carbon dioxide emissions from different methods of music delivery. Direct downloading being by far the least energy intensive process. However, this research did not look at the usage of downloaded music and how it may differ. Is the era of downloads and streaming also encouraging further energy consumption with Wi-Fi speakers and Smart TVs?
Alongside the more technical solutions to the Digital Economy's energy requirements, it is also important to understand the behaviour of consumers. Hertwich (2005) conducted research into the rebound effect - the possible behavioural and systematic secondary impacts that can 'offset part of the environmental gain' of more environmentally-friendly products and services (e.g. downloading music rather than shipping physical CDs). Hertwich concluded that in fact 'ripple effects' is a better term than rebound effects, as the secondary impacts can actually be positive.
The Digital Economy therefore will be of increasing importance to energy solutions in the future, and work is well underway to keep emissions down as they are so closely linked to costs. How the Digital Economy can in fact reduce carbon dioxide production is still being researched, as a lack of physical copies and products does not necessarily translate into significant, if any, emissions reductions.
Hi Baljeet,
ReplyDeleteGreat blog! It is really interesting to see how the digital economy can contribute to climate change mitigation.
I think it would also be interesting to look at the growing prominence of digital currencies. I came across an article outlining Ven, the world's first green currency. Everytime the company issues currency, they purchase additional carbon credits in an effort to protect the Amazon rainforest.
http://www.popsci.com/worlds-most-stable-currency-is-backed-by-carbon
Other digital currencies like Solar Dollar (SOL) aiming to aggregate carbon taxes to reduce GHG emissions may also be relevant to your blog (http://climatecolab.org/plans/-/plans/contests/2015/global-climate-action-plan/c/proposal/1323902).
Hey Wilson, thanks for the suggestions!
DeleteIt's interesting to see attempts at directly aligning climate change action with economic growth.
Whilst I don't know enough about currencies, FX trading etc. to comment on the viability of these plans, it's encouraging that these ambitious, savvy plans exist!