In spite of the what seems like huge sucking sounds coming from massive server farms and data centers soaking up electricity it appears, according to a new study, that the “net” affect of the growth of the Internet is a savings in energy usage.
“Indeed, all America’s servers – the computers that direct traffic on the Internet – and the systems that cool them use about 1.2 percent of the nation’s electricity, according to a study last year.”
“But it turns out that for every kilowatt-hour of electricity used by information and communications technologies, the US saves at least 10 times that amount, the new ACEEE report found.”
Good news! One more reason to invest in improved broadband infrastructure. Doing so will help energy efficiency thus reduce our impact on global warming and reduce our dependency on imported oil. Let the bit torrents begin!