Digital pollution from downloading, storing and sharing data is largely due to the use of energy-intensive servers. Though invisible, digital pollution generates 4%1 of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Together, we can help reduce it.
The flow of online information has a significant environmental impact, and its carbon footprint is inflated by the tremendous quantities of fossil fuels used to power the data centers that make it all possible. Digital traffic has increased dramatically, especially since the start of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
In recent months, people around the world have relied on their Internet connection for work, entertainment and other activities. This greater online presence brings with it increased energy consumption.
According to various scenarios, this consumption could represent 8% to 21% of global energy needs by 2030. For example, streaming alone accounts for 60%2 of Internet traffic and generates nearly 1% of global carbon dioxide emissions3. Considering 64% of power generation currently relies on fossil fuels—the leading contributor to GHG emissions—there is cause for concern.
Widely cited forecasts suggest that the total electricity demand of information and communications technology (ICT) will accelerate in the 2020s, and that data centers will take a large slice.
Sources: U.S. Energy and Information Administration and Natural Resources Canada.
The good news is that we can all do our part to reduce the environmental footprint of Internet traffic, especially by adopting daily habits for digital sobriety.
Hydro-Québec is also part of the solution. By encouraging data centers to choose Québec and our clean energy, we are helping to green online traffic.
More than 99.8% of our electricity is generated from renewable sources, and our electricity rates are among the lowest in North America. The climate and the abundance of cold water facilitate server cooling, leading to major energy savings for data center operators.
41,000 tonnesof GHG emissionscompared with a similar facility in Virginia
42,000 tonnes of GHG emissionscompared with a similar facility in North Carolina
40,000 tonnesof GHG emissionscompared with a similar facility in Toronto
*Source: Energy Information Administration, 2015
From online searches to video calls, streaming and email, we can all be smarter about the energy we use in our daily digital activities.
There’s even a smartphone application that guides users through a digital sobriety experience to help them become more aware of their consumption habits. The fun 30-day program keeps track of every ecofriendly action and measures its impact.
The app was designed by Ecoist Club, a young Québec company that won a challenge issued by Hydro-Québec as part of Coopérathon 2020 to find the best ways to combine clean energy and human energy to increase our resilience as a society.
Another advantage is that Québec is located at a latency* of 5 to 10 milliseconds from most major cities in the northeastern United States, where up to 80% of the world’s online traffic occurs. That makes our province an attractive alternative for organizations with servers in cities like Ashburn, Virginia, where 52% of the energy supply is generated by highly polluting fossil fuels.
Web giants including Google, OVHcloud and Amazon Web Services have already chosen Québec as the prime location from which to begin greening their operations.
By making Québec the hub of the green Internet for the US Northeast, we are helping to make this economic sector more sustainable.
Learn more about data centers in Québec
*Time required for a data packet to travel a network from the sender to the receiver.
In addition to being named Data Center Location of the Year at the 2019 Datacloud Global Awards and receiving the 2019 Data Centres AI Specialism Award at the Financial Times fDi Strategy Awards, greater Montréal topped the fDi Intelligence Tier 2 Cities of the Future 2020/21 ranking in the FDI strategy category.
Instant messaging consumes less energy than emailing.
Web searches produce four times more GHG emissions than accessing a site directly. Do the Earth a favor and type the name of the site in the address bar or use your favorites or browsing history to reach the site.
Audioconferencing uses 1,000 times less bandwidth than videoconferences.
Watching TV series and movies on a laptop uses much less energy than a smart TV or a TV hooked up to a game console.
Simply put, Wi-Fi or a wired connection uses less power than the cellular network.
It’s a good idea to use cloud storage only when necessary. Instead, use the computer’s hard drive or an external hard drive.
Source: Agence de la transition écologique, France, March 2020
Learn how we put sustainability at the heart of our operations
Let’s pool our energy to make it happen.
