Environmental impact of ICTs

Cryptocurrency mining setup

The intangibility of the Internet brings forth the challenge of connecting the mobilization and transformation of intangible resources, with tangible environmental impacts.[1]

Areas of impact

Electronics

  • Resource extraction: the production of devices requires the Some examples are lithium, cobalt,[2] and rare earth minerals.
  • Production of devices:
  • Electronics disposal:
  • Datacenters operation: great amounts of water are used for cooling servers, depleting in many cases resources from local communities.[3]

Land use

  • Location of data centers in colder regions and near superficial or underground water bodies.

Energy

  • Data storage
  • Computing power in resource-intensive processes such as artificial intelligence and the mining of crypto assets. For example,[4]

Measuring impact

There is a difficulty in the creation of models for measuring the environmental impact of ICTs.

  • Lack of comparable data.
  • Lack of measurements or even secrecy regarding the tangible impacts of physical data centers in terms of energy usage, and resource extractions.
  • There is no roadmap to more sustainable practices.

Initiatives

  • Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI)[5]

References

  1. ↑ Rousillhe, Gauthier (2021). Towards a Fossil-Free Internet: The Fog of Enactment. Priority areas for research in digital sustainability. The Green Web Foundation. https://www.thegreenwebfoundation.org/publications/report-fog-of-enactment/
  2. ↑ A Power Struggle Over Cobalt Rattles the Clean Energy Revolution—The New York Times. (n.d.). Retrieved April 6, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/20/world/china-congo-cobalt.html
  3. ↑ Terraformación, I. L. de. (2022, March 22). Rethinking the status of water in digital technologies. Instituto Latinoamericano de Terraformación. https://terraforminglatam.net/rethinking-the-status-of-water-in-digital-technologies
  4. ↑ Hileman, G., & Rauchs, M. (2017). Global Cryptocurrency Benchmark Study. https://www.jbs.cam.ac.uk/faculty-research/centres/alternative-finance/publications/global-cryptocurrency/
  5. ↑ Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. (n.d.). Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index (CBECI). Retrieved April 8, 2022, from https://ccaf.io/cbeci/mining_map
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