Topic 2Carbon Footprint in Computing.pdf.pdf
- 1. Sustainability, Social ,and Ethics Issues in Computing SCH 163 -Fall 2023 Carbon Footprint in Computing
- 2. • Be ableto identify trends forenergy consumptionfor ICT • List the threats and opportunities with the proliferation of data centers • Listthethreatsandopportunities associated with the increase in • List the threats and opportunities pertaining to cryptocurrencies • Identifymajor environmental effects of ICT Lesson Objectives • Beabletodifferentiatebetween carbonsinks, sources, reservoirs and processes in theatmospheric carboncycle number of objects connected on theInternet of Things (IoT)
- 3. Carbon Cycle and climate change Too much carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere can lead to a planet that gets unnaturally hot. https://serc.carleton.edu/
- 4. Carbon Cycle and climate change Since the industrial revolution in the 19th century, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has risen dramatically. Scientists have shown that this increase in carbon dioxide is a result of human activities that have occurred over the last 150 years, including the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. https://www.globalchange.gov/
- 5. Projections of ICT Carbon Footprint More ICT means: • More energy consumption both, in manufacturing these devices, and operating them • Increased mining for rare e metals used in manufacturing of ICT devices and • Icrease in waste disposal are additional contributors to the total ICT industry CO2 footprint. (Assessing ICT global emissions footprint, 2018)
- 6. Global trends in digital and energy indicators, 2015-2021 2015 3 billion 4.7 ZB 180 million650 million260% 2021 Change Internet users Internet traffic Data centre computing nodes Data centre energy use (Excluding Crypto) Crypto mining energy use Data transmission network energy use 4.9 billion60% 20.6 ZB 440% 220-320 TWh 100-140 TWh 260-340 TWh 200 TWh 9.4% 4 TWh +2300-3300% 220 TWh 19.4 https://www.iea.org/reports/data-centres-and- data-transmission-networks
- 7. ICT Footprint in emerging technologies Three recent and emerging innovations may have profound implications for the carbon footprint of the ICT sector: (1) Big Data, Data Science, and AI (2) Internet of Things (IoT) (3) Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies. In this section, we explore the opportunities and threats for each, as well as the potential mitigation of such threats (The real climate and transformative impact of ICT, 2021)
- 8. • Emissionsassociatedwithprocessingthisdataareincreasingduetogrowingcomputationalcomplexity. • Researchers have estimated that 284,019 kg of CO2e are emitted from training just one machine • AItrainingcomputationshaveinfactincreasedby300,000Xbetween2012and2018(anexponential ICT Footprint in emerging technologies (1) Big Data, Data Science, and AI Opportunities • Bigdata,datascience,andAIcouldcontributetoalowercarbonsmartfuture. Threats • Theworld’sdataaredoublingevery2years.20.6zettabytesin2021,withtheamountofdatacreatedin the following 3 years expected to be more than the data created in the last 30 years. learning algorithm for natural language processing, an impact that is five times the lifetime emissions of a car. increase doubling every 3.4 months). (The real climate and transformative impact of ICT, 2021)
- 9. ICT Footprint in emerging technologies (2) Internet of Things (IoT) Opportunities • IoTtechnologiescanenablesmartcitiesandsmartpowergrids. Threats • IoTenablementcomesatacostofrapidlyrisingnumbersofdevices,devicetraffic,andassociated emissions. 15.41 billion internet-connected devices in 2015 to 75.44 billion in 2025. • IoT’s carbon footprint is under-explored, but will have significant implications for em While the footprint of IoT is uncertain and often unexplored in studies of ICT carbon emissions • IthasbeenestimatedthattheenergyfootprintofIoTsemiconductormanufacturingalonemightbe556 TWh in 2016 and increase 18-fold to 722 TWh in 2025. (The real climate and transformative impact of ICT, 2021)
- 10. ICT Footprint in emerging technologies (3) Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies Blockchain is an example of a decentralized algorithm designed to avoid a centralized authority or central point of failure. Opportunities - Adecentralizedelectroniccurrencycouldofferarealdisruptioninthemanagementof financial transactions. Threats - Theenergyconsumedbysinglecryptocurrencyisequivalenttothatofentirenations. - Focusingoncryptocurrencies,onestudyindicatesthatBitcoin’sannualelectricityrequirementsof68.7 TWh in 2020 are equivalent to powering 7 million households, associated with a footprint of 44 MtCO2. - Duetotheinefficiencyoftransactions,asingletransactioncoulduseupto750kWh,enoughtopower 23 households for 1 day, or 473 kgCO2e. (The real climate and transformative impact of ICT, 2021)
- 11. ICT Footprint Interconnections (Technologies to Hardware) The impacts that trends in ICT have on growth in emissions from data centers, networks, and devices. ● ICT trends could drive exponential growth in GHG emissions. The three trends we have discussed could lead to substantial growth in ICT’s footprint. ●Without a global carbon constraint, avoiding unsustainable growth in ICT becomes a debate of what we should prioritize in the ICT sector, what problems can and should be solved using computing, and who can access the required ICT resources for such solutions. (The real climate and transformative impact of ICT,2021)
- 12. • List the main carbon sources and sinks in the atmosphere • Listtheprocesses that change the carbon content and the atmosphere • Listnaturalreservoirs forcaron in the soil and ocean • List the threats and opportunities with the proliferation of data centers List the threats and opportunities associated with the increase in number of objects connected on the Internet of Things (IoT) List the threats and opportunities t i i g t t i Id tif Lecture Questions • • •
- 14. Reference List