«Power, Pollution and the Internet»

 

Depois de ter lido  o artigo «The Cloud Factories - Power, Pollution and the Internet -This is the first article in a series about the physical structures that make up the cloud, and their impact on our environment», talvez possa concluir que não há «clics» no computador grátis. E ninguém nos diz isso de forma clara. Não andarei longe da verdade se  afirmar que, na generalidade, quando se envia um e-mail, se faz um download, se coloca um video, ... raros serão os que têm presente que aquilo tem um custo. E, em particular, na esfera do desenvolvimento sustentável. O artigo. Será que estamos a viver acima das possibilidades que o planeta comporta? E, já agora, em quanto terá ficado este post? Juro que gostaria de saber, até para fazer as minhas escolhas, nomeadamente na linha da  pegada ecológica pessoal. Bem sei, bem sei, que o trabalho do NYT é sobre data centers, mas isto é como as cerejas, está tudo ligado...Um excerto do longo artigo:

« (...)That was in early 2006, when Facebook had a quaint 10 million or so users and the one main server site. Today, the information generated by nearly one billion people requires outsize versions of these facilities, called data centers, with rows and rows of servers spread over hundreds of thousands of square feet, and all with industrial cooling systems.

They are a mere fraction of the tens of thousands of data centers that now exist to support the overall explosion of digital information. Stupendous amounts of data are set in motion each day as, with an innocuous click or tap, people download movies on iTunes, check credit card balances on Visa’s Web site, send Yahoo e-mail with files attached, buy products on Amazon, post on Twitter or read newspapers online.

A yearlong examination by The New York Times has revealed that this foundation of the information industry is sharply at odds with its image of sleek efficiency and environmental friendliness.

Most data centers, by design, consume vast amounts of energy in an incongruously wasteful manner, interviews and documents show. Online companies typically run their facilities at maximum capacity around the clock, whatever the demand. As a result, data centers can waste 90 percent or more of the electricity they pull off the grid, The Times found.

To guard against a power failure, they further rely on banks of generators that emit diesel exhaust. The pollution from data centers has increasingly been cited by the authorities for violating clean air regulations, documents show. In Silicon Valley, many data centers appear on the state government’s Toxic Air Contaminant Inventory, a roster of the area’s top stationary diesel polluters. (...)».