Information technologies today are not burdened by associations with ugly environmental images: no dirty smokestacks, toxic waste barrels, tar pits, or landfills. Many people have never seen a data centre, or know their exact function. Green IT consultant Bill St. Arnaud presented at this year’s Information without Borders conference on global warming and the impact of information technologies under the conference theme of “change in management.” Information without Borders is a fitting conference name for this presentation, as the legal boundaries for the internet are blurred, which only complicates info technology regulation and environmental policy change.
Presentation
St. Arnaud’s presentation was organized into two main parts. First, he provided evidence for any doubters that global warming, the biggest challenge among all environmental problems, is a reality. Average temperatures have increased steadily since the industrial revolution, and now energy is pouring into the ocean. St. Arnaud places us, “on the curve of the hockey stick,” and things are about to get worse.
In the second part, St. Arnaud focuses on the impact of information technologies on the environment. St. Arnaud argues that information technologies are adding to the global CO2 problem. This is a timely message, because info technologies have not reached their maximum potential. St. Arnaud projects that in the not too distant future (2030) information technologies will require 40% of the world’s produced energy! He lists the biggest contributors to the problem as:
- The internet
- Data centres
- Computers and hardware
Finally, St. Arnaud briefly highlighted two initiatives to make the web a little greener: Greenstar Network and MIT. The Greenstar Network is developing tools and infrastructure to reduce the carbon footprint of internet service, while the MIT project is attempting to build a zero carbon emission data centre.
Info Technologies and Policy Development
The current image of info technologies is elusive, and initiatives for more efficient energy consumption have limited success. Without greater public awareness, policy iniatives have a small channce of success.
The internet is difficult to conceive as a physical thing: it has no beginning or end points, it seems both infinite, and infinitely expandable. Though it is more regulated and the content is controlled more by large corporations, it still seems to have unlimited possibilities. It’s infrastructure consists of wires that hide under oceans, and the hardware for customers to access the internet is sleek and clean. The internet seems not to be a thing, but something between things. It is very difficult for the public to imagine the internet is damaging to the physical world when it seems more like the human mind than a traditional consumable product.
Data centres are the Area 51 of the 21st century. We know so little about them, and their mysterious quality has a sinister nature: not only do they seem to be collecting data on millions of consumers, but they are consuming vast amounts of energy to do so. Is this collection of information to better serve the public? Will major data collectors use the collection of personal information for other, more drastic agendas? What Google may or may not do with data collections could be harmless. The point is the option is there for data collectors if they decide to leverage that information for a bigger place in the market, or to ward off threats from legislators or competitors. To use the most fitting example, Google, which had it’s first real beginnings in 1996, has never made much secret of their ambitions to be a dominant global force. Large information technology companies represent an entirely new type of global empire.
Western consumptive habits for bigger houses, bigger cars, and the high tech objects of conspicuous consumption counter many improvements in energy efficiency. Furthermore, there seems to be no coherent global strategy for energy consumption as the middle class of China and India grow exponentially. The green movement is too superficial and followed by far too few to make a difference in the global warming trend.
St. Arnaud’s presentation lacked recommendations for the information professionals in attendance to take with them into the workforce. St. Arnaud could have spent less time establishing the existence of global warming, and included a third part to synthesize the reality of global warming with the implications of information technologies as huge consumers of energy.
The areas that could see the greatest amount of resistance to policy development to counter information technology energy consumption would be from internet providers and companies that operate data centres, both of which have a lot of leverage to limit the effectiveness of a shift in government policy. Internet providers and companies like Google have made themselves virtually indispensable to the business of government, commerce, culture, and more in a very short period.
Before recommendations can be made, a real commitment is required from government to take global warming and energy over-consumption seriously. Policy development on the better regulation of information technologies would have to begin with a better public education campaign about the dangers of global warming and environmental degradation, and specifically about the role of information technologies in this broader narrative. Individuals like Bill St. Arnaud are educating the public about the dangers of global warming, but social change is glacially slow, and the environmental change is happening first than previously expected.
The consumer end has the potential to be the sector with the most policy development. Regulations can be implemented that cut energy consumption merely by being designed to not be on all the time. The government could implement a program that encourages the recycling of computer hardware, and counters the quick timeline of scheduled obsolescence. One positive policy initiative would be to limit the production of new hardware, and encourage the expanded use of community thin clients. The emphasis on individual access could be changed to a more efficient emphasis on community access. Frustratingly, like other areas of environmental policy, better regulation will probably affect the consumers, but not so much the industry.
The internet and it’s supporting technologies are still quite young: a shiny new novelty to society, and the rapid advancement of technology keeps the experience fresh. Policy makers and consumers have to be a little less naive about the implications of information technologies, and realize that new internet services bring uncalculated costs. In order to effectively limit the energy consumption of info technologies, and slow the effect of global warming, society needs to see the environmental costs of high energy consumption, and that is one dirty picture.
References:
Greenstar Network (2011). GreenStar Network | Building a Zero Carbon Network. Accessed from: http://www.greenstarnetwork.com/node/1