The Internet has lost its original purpose

[slowmotion]

A bit off topic.....There was a technology programme on The World Service early this morning. It said the the global energy currently needed to power the internet was greater than that used by the transport sector.
Watch out for your Carbon fingerprints.

 

[subaqua]

A bit off topic.....There was a technology programme on The World Service early this morning. It said the the global energy currently needed to power the internet was greater than that used by the transport sector.
Watch out for your Carbon fingerprints.

I went to a lecture at the IET 2 years ago that was scary , in that the current power demand for data centres alone in Japan is over twice what it was capable of producing 10 years ago and the trend is continuing worldwide,

the worst part is that most of that energy is used on achieving humidity and temperatures based on a 60 yr old data storage system ( paper tapes) . most cooling for current data halls could be achieved with free cooling and the humidity levels are almost self regulating for the equipment now installed.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I go back to Arpanet, mid to late 80's, early 90's. Mrs. GA is in academic administration, and the Universities and other state agencies had access. Mostly Listserves and pages of data and text. It seemed like something right out of Star Trek to me. Still amazes me, but I'm easily entertained.

 

[luckyfox]

I've never paid for a mucky video yet, erm ah what I mean is........

Home made??

 

[stephec]

Home made??

Ah now I see.

Are they all on pay per view or do you have a free preview section as well?

 

[luckyfox]

Ah now I see.

Are they all on pay per view or do you have a free preview section as well?

I'm not sure, just ask your....Oh it would be so tempting to retaliate but I shall refrain.

 

[stephec]

I'm not sure, just ask your....Oh it would be so tempting to retaliate but I shall refrain.

You're obviously a lady then.

 

[tadpole]

A bit off topic.....There was a technology programme on The World Service early this morning. It said the the global energy currently needed to power the internet was greater than that used by the transport sector.
Watch out for your Carbon fingerprints.

World wide the internet (including building all the computers, servers, cabling) uses 2% of the energy produced per year. Transport (not including all the energy going in to making cars vans trucks and roads) uses 27.3% of all the energy produced.

 

[Dan B]

I went to a lecture at the IET 2 years ago that was scary , in that the current power demand for data centres alone in Japan is over twice what it was capable of producing 10 years ago and the trend is continuing worldwide,

the worst part is that most of that energy is used on achieving humidity and temperatures based on a 60 yr old data storage system ( paper tapes) . most cooling for current data halls could be achieved with free cooling and the humidity levels are almost self regulating for the equipment now installed.

I'd be interested to hear your opinion on Bytemark's new data centre: they say it can be cooled entirely passively if the external temperature is less than 21 degrees.
http://blog.bytemark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/YO26-Spec-Sheet.pdf

 

[tadpole]

Where I work (10,000m3 switch not a data centre) is cooled by free cooling 90% of the time, nothing new about that concept. the building is 14 years old, but the system is upgraded every few years,

 

[swee'pea99]

World wide the internet (including building all the computers, servers, cabling) uses 2% of the energy produced per year. Transport (not including all the energy going in to making cars vans trucks and roads) uses 27.3% of all the energy produced.

Have to say I was a bit surprised by the original post, to say the least. That sounds much more plausible to me.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Actually, when I think about the shopping and questions resolved online, as well as the number of people I have at work that work from home, I think the internet saves a lot of energy from that very same transportation sector. Just a hunch, hard to quantify.

 

[subaqua]

thats a fairly good PUE ! it looks like some of the ideas that were being discussed at the lecture have been taken on board if that data centre is anything to go by. the next big one i am doing kicks off in a week so will get the chance to see what we are doing for cooling and power efficiency. I hope the client is taking the best option

 

[slowmotion]

World wide the internet (including building all the computers, servers, cabling) uses 2% of the energy produced per year. Transport (not including all the energy going in to making cars vans trucks and roads) uses 27.3% of all the energy produced.

That's the figure I saw in a New Scientist article from October 2011. Estimates seem to vary widely. I've seen more recent work which suggests 10% of global electricity consumption. It's a bit hard to estimate the primary energy implications without knowing how the electricity is generated, fossil fuel or nuclear. I'm sure somebody has done it.