Read these Facts before using the Internet next time

Do you really think the internet is green?

 

Well, Internet activity has not replaced much “real life”. The information you’re searching for on the internet is in fact not just kept in the “virtual world”. Say you surf the find a meme your query is sent to thousands of servers, found in huge data-center buildings. The information is then retrieved and transmitted across the network through a router, which is transferred by wi-fi to your electronic device. This happens every time you make a search, which costs energy.

 

So here are some facts based on extensive research and studies done by various agencies across the globe that will show you how much impact the internet usage is creating on the environment.

 

1. Say if you make an average of 2.6 web searches per day, you emit 9.9 kg of Carbon dioxide equivalent per year. When browsing the web, an average internet user yearly needs about 365 kWh electricity and 2,900 litres of water. Now imagine the energy used for 4.1 billion active internet users. The data library of daily apps hoards massive amounts of data which is stored on servers which in some parts of the world are largely powered from the burning of fossil fuels.

 

2. The 5 billion views that Despacito garnered on YouTube alone consumed over 250,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. It has consumed as much electricity as Chad, Guinea-Bissau, Somalia, Sierra Leone and the Central African Republic put together in a single year.

 

3. PC gamers use use about 75 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year (And that doesn’t include console games).

 

4. Watching online videos accounts for the biggest chunk of the world’s internet traffic which is 60%, and generates 300m tonnes of carbon dioxide a year. Netflix says its total global energy consumption reached 451,000 megawatt hours per year, which is enough to power 37,000 homes.

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