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26,000 terawatt-hours consumed in 2022 , but that percentage could rise as high as 8 % by 2030 .
the ways we understand and respond to climate change – and doing so with minimum energy consumption .
Climate change – whether today or in 40 years – is approaching a crunch point and it will take colossal effort from every industry to undo humanity ’ s impact on the Earth ’ s environment .
As technology advances and the energy it consumes grows , sustainable computing is crucial in our global efforts to stop the damage caused to our environment when applied to everything from the mobile phones in our pockets , to data centres onpremise or in the cloud .
Globally , energy production is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions . Data centres represent a small fraction of total electricity use , but in a world where temperatures are rising , every contributing factor needs attention .
To reach net zero sustainability , sustainable computing initiatives must source carbon-neutral energy . Lack of control over where their power is generated is a major challenge for existing data centres with a target of carbon neutrality . By using energy supplied by the national grid , the power supplied is often in part generated from burning fossil fuels .
Powerful , energy-efficient computers and processoptimised workflows are part of the solution . They ’ re advancing science and our quality of life , which includes
Accountable technology
The concept of green computing hit the public spotlight in 1992 . The US Environmental Protection Agency launched Energy Star , a programme focusing on identifying whether consumer electronics met energy efficiency standards .
The year 2007 saw the launch of the Green500 – a list of the top 500 supercomputers , ranked by their energy efficiency . The list quickly became a rallying point for a community that needed to make power consumption as efficient as possible , while maximising performance . The list has since seen vast improvements in energy efficiency , primarily due to the use of accelerators like GPUs .
Since then , green computing has become fundamental to IT strategy . A 2017 report found that nearly 100 government and industry programmes across 22 countries promoted sustainable information and communication technologies .
The future of green technology
Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) is transforming the way the world works . From operations across industries like healthcare to retail , to end-user Generative AI applications like ChatGPT or Midjourney , the
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