We really like, especially in fiction, to depict a world in black and white or on one side the good guys and on the other the bad guys. It is a classification which reassures us, which allows us to believe that good will triumph over evil as in a large majority of works of fiction. This allows us to imagine that we are on the right side. Except that you just have to gain some height to realize that it doesn’t work that way. Our world is one of nuances where gray dominates with different shades sometimes darker or paler.
This is seen in all issues, including climate. Although it seems obvious that ecologically, it is time to act, not everyone agrees on the approaches. Several solutions raise ambivalent feelings.
The possibilities of big data and AI…
For more than a decade now, technologies have been able to probe everything quickly and in real time. We have never had so much data on space, environmental environments, people, etc. This massification of data is seen everywhere, including in the environment. Massive data is still uncommon in rural areas and is not used as much as one might think for monitoring wildlife and floral populations. Nevertheless, they exist and their uses are increasing with satellite applications, among others.
Thus, many people believe in the possibilities of this data for businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, to better organize transport, to better plan urban areas, etc. The manufacturing sector looks favorably on the use of such information to reduce waste and pollution in societies. Having access to so much information would make it easier to create examples of the circular economy.
For their part, other companies intend to monitor the planet in order to detect methane leaks or roughly measure carbon capture for plants around the world. Even African countries benefit from massive information in the development of their agriculture.
Artificial intelligence too, fed with data, generates a lot of hope among some in the ecological improvement of the planet. Generative AI, for example, would be able to quickly calculate the effects of a decision by modeling what could happen and thus help in the planning of various policies. We would thus be able to improve the road network for greater fluidity or to detect oil spills or pollutants in the ground. The goal with data and AI for its supporters is to offer the general public and decision-makers rational and fair information to act accordingly. Except that it comes at a cost.
… energy-consuming solutions like never before
If the Internet were a country, it would be the third largest consumer of electricity after the United States and China. Data centers that accumulate and participate in big data and artificial intelligence would represent at least 4% of global energy consumption. A value that will only increase given the increasingly frequent use of the Internet by everyone, including objects. The three main factors of pollution are energy consumption, the need to cool electronic equipment and the fact that it is constantly used.
What’s more, the initial development of data centers was done without thought. The territories allowed them to settle without thinking about the needs, the effects on the surrounding communities, on local energy consumption, etc. Moreover, no longer letting the industry go without putting in place reservations, limitations and others could be a good way to start reducing the ecological footprint of the centers.
Fortunately, some are looking at solutions to reduce the impact of data centers on the environment. Already, companies are in the process of or have made a shift towards renewable energies and are also improving their design to facilitate cooling of servers. The goal is to reduce the electricity consumption required to keep computer equipment at a suitable temperature.
There are also solutions within the servers themselves. Many perform unnecessary tasks that technicians could deactivate and the majority of centers are over-equipped, having more equipment in operation than necessary. Setting up more virtual servers would also be interesting since they go into standby mode when they are not in use and do not consume as much. Currently, they represent half of a center’s servers. This ratio could be increased.
In addition to these changes, a reflection will have to occur on our uses. Certainly, limiting the bandwidth of Internet users does not really make sense in a world that is constantly becoming digital. However, perhaps we need to think about and inform people about periods of high consumption, encourage the reduction of unnecessary uses of generative artificial intelligence, and offer digital solutions that are less polluting and favor greener servers. This seems necessary to continue to benefit from the advantages of technology by reducing the ecological footprint.
Image : Bethany Drouin de Pixabay
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