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Is the Cloud damaging the planet? – asks BBC TV’s Panorama

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From Tallbloke’s Talkshop

Hyperscale data center in Dublin developed by EdgeConneX. (Image credit: EdgeConneX)

The BBC thinks we should agonise over our ‘carbon footprint’ in relation to computer data centres, due to their massive use of electricity (and water). It’s supposed to be a ‘crisis for which we are all to blame’. Another question then: how is this not also a problem for advocates of expanding electric power into transport and other areas of energy usage with lithium batteries, which are produced with huge volumes of water in the mining process and soak up vast amounts of electricity when collectively recharged?
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Today Monday 6 February 2023, there is a new episode of Panorama. Is the Cloud Damaging the Planet?

The Cloud is fantastic, and we all have come to rely on it, says Memorable TV.

It’s where all of our memories and correspondence live, the engine behind all of our web searches, and the conduit for all of our television binges.

Cloud computing, however, requires massive data centres that consume tremendous quantities of both water and electricity behind the scenes.

Going online has a cumulative effect of increasing its carbon footprint. Richard Bilton delves into the expanding ecological crisis for which we are all to blame.

Source here.


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Related — RTE (Irish broadcaster): The rise and rise of data centres in Ireland (Aug. 2022)
‘Analysis: Data centres in Ireland are now consuming more metered electricity than all of our rural homes put together’