Data center emissions likely 662% higher than big tech claims.
AI summary of the linked articleBig tech's official data center emissions appear far lower than actual emissions, according to a Guardian analysis. The analysis estimates that from 2020 to 2022, the real emissions from company-owned data centers of Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple are probably about 662% (7.62 times) higher than officially reported. The gap stems largely from renewable energy certificates (Recs), which let companies claim renewable power produced anywhere, while location-based figures reflect the electricity actually consumed. Meta reported 273 metric tons of official 2022 scope 2 emissions, while its location-based figure exceeded 3.8m metric tons. |
1 comment mishaSubmitter I always wonder, in a far far away future when the internet is fully IPFS ;) .. and every house will have an IPFS node by default in their utility box, would we need data centers? And would energy usage be lower? Anyway I think it is an illusion to think data centers and the internet are going to be using less energy anytime soon. But I think it’s good to be aware the internet is not just something up there in the cloud, but it actually takes physical space and uses resources and energy. Would an internet that is fully p2p, with people running all kinds of nodes in their utility box, be a better option in terms of space and energy usage? |
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