The problem is that the energy consumption of the internet increases at a much higher rate than renewable energy sources. Besides that, everyone is talking about renewable energy sources but nobody wants them in their own backyard.
Scroll down the linked page. Not very accurate of course but just to give you the picture. How many windmills do we need for that?
Here in the Netherlands we have a total windmill capacity of around 3900 MWh, so we need about a thousandfold of that or about 15,500,000 m2 of solar panels just to power internet data traffic worldwide
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
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I once saw a study which said that we could power the entire U.S. if we covered over the state of Nevada with a giant greenhouse, then used that greenhouse to raise hemp to burn to generate electricity. Must have seemed like a good idea at the time .
On the BBC - years ago, we used to say ‚BBC Television Center‘ was the most inefficient building in the world: megawatts in, and just two volts out. 1 volt peak-to-peak for BBC1, and 1 volt peak-to-peak for BBC2
Saving energy (for the sake of the environment) is a big thing here, we‘re all very conscious of doing or bit: LED lighting, minimal devices on standby (hallo Roon), etc. But when I see a night fly-over of any large US city, I think „why are we bothering? Any savings I make fall into complete insignificance.
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