07/11/2022 The web can be green
About 200 terawatt-hours of energy per year.
8% of the total energy demand of the planet by 2030.
These are the estimates on the consumption of Data Centers worldwide, practically equivalent to small and medium-sized countries. The entire information and communication ecosystem consumes about 4,000 terawatts per hour.
If we imagine a distribution map of Data Centers and zoom in on Italy, we discover that our country is among the top ten in terms of the number of Data Centers: high concentration in Milan followed closely by Rome.
Hosting these spaces in our country is a great resource and opportunity when considering the value of data: having centers for Big Data management nearby is indeed a huge competitive advantage, but also, and above all, a strategic value for the development of the national system and the evolution of the business fabric.
Since 2018, the full application of the GDPR has made companies very attentive and sensitive regarding the storage and path of data. The possibility and certainty that data are in Italy allow for smoother management and greater peace of mind regarding the obligation to comply with regulations of countries with a different approach.
Sustainable Data Centers
Data Centers are necessary in a heavily digitized world, but they are nevertheless particularly energy-intensive structures.
Major players in the industry such as Amazon, Google, Equinix, and Interxion have long decided to enter into an agreement called the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, aiming to achieve neutrality by 2030.
Data Centers powered exclusively by renewable energy exist and are widespread worldwide. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the Aruba Global Cloud Data Center located in Italy, in Ponte San Pietro (Bergamo), which occupies an area of 200,000 square meters. It is a real innovative technological hub; it has become a case study: it is powered by photovoltaic panels and a hydrogeological system that draws from the Brembo river.
Climate Neutrality: A Feasible Challenge
The goal of neutrality seems achievable, obviously with effort, but in the meantime, there are some steps we can take to create websites that have a low energy impact.
We discuss this in the first episode of Pindarica’s video-podcast Limetime: during the aperitif hour, relaxed chats on communication, marketing, design, and digital topics.
To stay updated on upcoming episodes, subscribe to the Youtube LimeTime channel and click on the bell to receive a notification about the next video releases. Do the same on Spotify for the audio version.
Feel free to leave your comments if you want to add something to the discussion and if you think there might be interesting topics to talk about in the future.
