PLEA Network

19 August 2016. Climate News Network, Internet energy impacts on climate. New research warns that the growing reliance on smart technologies is leading to a rapid rise in internet energy demand that will push up carbon dioxide emissions. Switch off your computer, dust off your old typewriter, sharpen all the pencils you can find, lay in stocks of postage stamps − and that’s just the start. Our immersion in the digital society – and particularly our growing reliance on the Internet of Things – could mean uncontrolled demand for energy and spiralling emissions of carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. Researchers from the School of Computing and Communications (SCC) at the University of Lancaster, UK, say the growth of remote digital sensors and devices connected to the internet – the Internet of Things – can cause unprecedented and, in principle, almost unlimited rises in the energy consumed by smart technologies. They warn that the world now needs to consider how to limit data growth on the internet. Read More here