Energy Efficiency

My notes on the paper: Montevecchi, F., Hinterholzer, S., Stickler, T. & Hintemann, R. (2020) Energy-efficient cloud computing technologies and policies for an eco-friendly cloud market: final study report.

My notes on the paper: Bol, D., Pirson, T. & Dekimpe, R. (2021) Moore’s Law and ICT Innovation in the Anthropocene.

The carbon footprint of a laptop is mostly in the manufacturing. Servers are different, and ARM chips are starting to change the game.

5G networks have larger antennas, larger bandwidths, and higher base station density. This means up to x3 more energy consumption. How can the industry expect x20 more energy efficiency by 2030?

There is scope to start something tackling the problem of data center energy consumption. However, there are significant challenges: how to measure the problem, the uncertainty around the current situation, and the limited number of growth buyers.

We want to encourage more efficient use of cloud resources but designing incentives is hard. That changes with serverless and edge compute. Now energy usage is linked to price.

Apple produces the most environmentally friendly laptops from both a carbon footprint and energy efficiency perspective, but it depends on which model you compare. The best thing you can do for the environment is to not buy a new laptop.

Globally, data centers were estimated to use between 196 terawatt hours (TWh) and 400 TWh in 2020, or between 1-2% of global electricity demand.