4 ms·

Data taken from : https://www.emergeinteractive.com/insights/detail/does-irresponsible-web-development-contribute-to-global-warming https://www.emergeinteractiv

• ericpauley 6y ago
  Are we to believe that it takes 5kWh to transfer 1GB of data? My media server runs under 500W, so could operate for over 10 hours before hitting this and download terabytes of data. Even other machines needed to facilitate the connection can't explain a 1000x discrepancy. My guess is that the author confused kWh with Wh at some point.
  • deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
• luc4sdreyer 6y ago
  Thanks, so we're actually in agreement then :) If you look at your own source (the two Figure 3 inserts from 2017 and 2018 studies), they estimate that in 2020 the kWh/GB measure would be between 0.1 and 0.01. That equates to between 60 and 6 grams of CO2 per GB, smack bang in the middle of the International Energy Agency estimate I linked to (29 grams). The reason for the big discrepancy is your source article was written in 2016, and it referenced a study from 2012 for its 5.12 kWh/GB number, and that 2012 study used bandwidth data from 2011. Telecommunication systems are still getting exponentially more efficient over time (see the second Figure 3), so estimates get old very quickly.