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Health & Fitness

Data Equals Energy in Internet World

A simple equation encapsulates how environmentalists should think about how they use their computers: data = energy. And lots of data equals lots of energy.

While the emails you collect and the other data you store online may seem to reside in the ether somewhere — out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes — they actually require energy to power the servers and networks that house them all.

A simple equation encapsulates how environmentalists should think about how they use their computers: data = energy. And lots of data equals lots of energy.

“Only store what is really necessary,” says Brian Yurick, proprietor of Portsmouth-based Home Town Technology Consultants. “A large problem is that the effect we have on energy usage with “the cloud” and data is that it is essentially invisible to us. The average person really doesn't have a way to measure his footprint from the emails he sends or the amount of time he spends surfing the web and chatting online.”

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“Cloud” technology allows clients to store their information on remote servers. Indeed, moving to the cloud can help a business not only better organize its information, it can also help it save big bucks on energy by reducing its dependence on physical servers on the property, which can be a waste of both physical resources and energy: running the servers, paying for the air conditioning to cool down an office with multiple servers, etc.

Servers are specialized computers that run services and applications used by businesses and individuals either locally (on the premises) or in the cloud (the Internet). They are responsible for running all the cloud applications we use during our daily lives.

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HTTC offers unique “virtualization” services. Similar in conception to how the cloud works, virtualization allows a business with multiple servers – each of which might be tasked with different storage rolls – an opportunity to put them on one piece of hardware. And that saves energy.

“I help companies run their businesses off the cloud instead of having their own data center,” Yurick says. And he has specific suggestions for individuals and businesses on how to lessen their energy footprint to help put less pressure on the cloud.

The cloud does consume lots of energy. According to a Sept. 22 article in The New York Times, worldwide, “the digital warehouses that support our emails, surfing, games and data collection and dissemination use about 30 billion watts of electricity, roughly equivalent to the output of 30 nuclear power plants.

“With no sense that data is physical or that storing it uses up space and energy, consumers have developed the habit of sending huge data files back and forth, like videos and mass e-mails with photo attachments. Even the seemingly mundane actions like running an app to find an Italian restaurant in Manhattan or a taxi in Dallas requires servers to be turned on and ready to process the information instantaneously,” writes James Glanz in The Times article, titled “Power, Pollution and the Internet.”

“Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner,” Glanz writes. “Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid.”

Yurick took issue with the article, arguing that the technology The Times refers to in the article existed a few years ago, which in tech-time is “a lifetime ago.” He also noted that computers and servers are much more efficient now, that large companies need to make a profit, which means they will make the data centers that support the Internet more efficient to help their bottom line.

“The world runs on the Internet, it runs on computers,” Yurick said. “They will be run more efficiently in the future. Every day, data centers are using less and less
energy. And in the end that benefits us locally, including the end user.”

And the end user can do his or her part to use less energy. Speaking about “necessary and legitimate emails,” Yurick noted that by themselves end users do not have much of a footprint. But “spam” — unsolicited or bulk email — is another story. A number of studies show that spam emails account for almost 80 percent of total emails worldwide.

“That is a lot of unnecessary energy spent on what is literally junk mail,” he said. And though it is hard to keep up with, spam should be deleted immediately.

Not all emails are junk, but neither are all necessary.

“There is something to be said for storing emails forever and whether it is necessary,” Yurick said. “There are legitimate and legal reasons for businesses to keep and store email archives, but the average home user probably never really needs to save email. In fact, there are a few trains of thought on the Internet that practice the art of ‘zero inbox,’ the idea being that once you've read an email, just reply (if needed) and delete it. I'm willing to bet that 99 percent of the email in the average person's inbox could disappear and they'd never miss it.”

What else can we do to reduce data stored in the cloud? “I think that goes back to the education of the public regarding ‘data equals energy.’ Maybe we need some sort of energy meter attached to all our devices that measure the amount of time we spend online and factor that in with battery-power usage. I don't know for sure; there are no easy answers.”

Otherwise families can do simple things such as using the power-save settings on their computers, Yurick said. “And if you're going to bed or will be out for an extended period of time, shut the computer off completely. Rather than always getting the latest-greatest technology, see if you can do a minor hardware or software upgrade to get more life out of your computer. Repair your devices instead of trashing them and getting new ones. These are all small changes, but they add up.”

Yurick practices what he preaches: Home Town Technology Consultants is a business partner of the Green Alliance, a union of local sustainable businesses promoting environmentally sound business practices, and a green co-op offering discounted green products and services to its members.

To learn more about HTTC, visit www.httc.me,
and to learn more about Green Alliance, visit www.greenalliance.biz.

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