"Una transició LENTA a la sostenibilitat té un cost econòmic inassumible"

 https://www.3cat.cat/324/mar-reguant-una-transicio-lenta-a-la-sostenibilitat-te-un-cost-economic-inassumible/noticia/3316790/

From Mining to E-waste: The Environmental and Climate Justice Implications of the Electronics Hardware Life Cycle

 From Mining to E-waste: The Environmental and Climate Justice Implications of the Electronics Hardware Life Cycle

The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud

 Anthropologist Steven Gonzalez Monserrate draws on five years of research and ethnographic fieldwork in server farms to illustrate some of the diverse environmental impacts of data storage.

https://thereader.mitpress.mit.edu/the-staggering-ecological-impacts-of-computation-and-the-cloud/ 

Electronic waste has grown to record levels. Here’s why that’s a huge problem

 https://edition.cnn.com/2024/03/20/climate/electronic-waste-recycling-climate-un/index.html

The numbers are staggering. In 2022, the world generated 62 million metric tons of electronic waste, also known as “e-waste,” according to the United Nations Global E-waste Monitor released Wednesday.

A bottle of water per email: the hidden environmental costs of using AI chatbots

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/09/18/energy-ai-use-electricity-water-data-centers/

Often, water systems are used to cool the equipment and keep it functioning. Water transports the heat generated in the data centers into cooling towers to help it escape the building, similar to how the human body uses sweat to keep cool, according to Shaolei Ren, an associate professor at UC Riverside.

After a lengthy court battle, the Oregonian newspaper forced Google to disclose how much its data centers were using in The Dalles, about 80 miles east of Portland; it turned out to be nearly a quarter of all the water available in the town, the documents revealed.

In July, Google released its most recent environmental report, showing its carbon emission footprint rose by 48 percent, largely due to AI and data centers. It also replenished only 18 percent of the water it consumed — a far cry from the 120 percent it has set as a goal by 2030. “Google has a long-standing commitment to sustainability, guided by our ambitious goals—which includes achieving net-zero emissions by 2030,” said Mara Harris, a spokesperson for Google.

Mexico’s datacentre industry is booming – but are more drought and blackouts the price communities must pay?

Many fear the arrival of tech giants such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google in the state of Querétaro will place too much of a strain on scarce water and electricity resources 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/sep/25/mexico-datacentre-amazon-google-queretaro-water-electricity?CMP=share_btn_url 

Measuring the impact of digital solutions on the climate

 https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/news/measuring-impact-digital-solutions-climate 

The European Green Digital Coalition has published new methodologies to measure the net impact of digital solutions on the climate.

The publications consist of 3 documents:

1. Net Carbon Impact Assessment Methodology for ICT Solutions, including sector specific methodologies
2. Real Life Case Studies
3. Deployment Guidelines

The Net Carbon Impact Assessment Methodology for ICT Solutions lies at the core of the EGDC publications. It contains requirements for comparing scenarios with and without ICT solutions in a given context, allowing us to accurately quantify the positive contribution and direct footprint – in CO2 equivalent – of a specific digital solution.

It is complemented by sector-specific methodologies illustrating the practical application of each requirement for 6 sectors: energy, construction/buildings, smart cities, agriculture, transport and manufacturing.

The real-life case studies in all 6 sectors helped to refine and illustrate the impact of the methodologies. They were collected from EGDC members and stakeholders deploying ICT solutions. These include cloud-based tools for the energy management in buildings, 5G-enabled manufacturing and agriculture, smart energy and smart city platforms, and more.

Finally, the deployment guidelines were drawn up to enhance the understanding of the deployment of ICT solutions in different sectors. They include guidance on optimising their positive impact on the climate, and minimising negative consequences.