Digital technology is taking an increasingly important place in our lives and this sector is now essential to the functioning of our society. However, its explosive growth is not insignificant: it pollutes a lot and therefore contributes to the acceleration of global warming as well as the destruction of the Earth.
gave DigitalDigital We now emit as much greenhouse gas as we sort our waste, i.e. 2.5% of our footprint. CarbonCarbon France’s annual consumption and 10% of its electricity consumption. Let’s be honest, it seems impossible to deprive ourselves of digital technologies, or even limit our use of them. Adem has just published two reports on two of the sector’s most thorny topics: data center outcomes and heavy metal emissions.
Data centers are environmental disasters without regulation.
” Arrival of a Data centerData center Capturing a large amount of electricity over an area has severe impacts and is possible with more modest water resource values. The heatThe heat Deadly », explains the edim.
And all predictions suggest that the data center sector will continue to grow explosively: The outlook shows a very rapid increase in electricity consumption due to data centers in the medium term, which could represent 6% of electricity consumption in France in 2050. Energy efficiency gains of more than 50% can be achieved by taking action today. ServersServerscooling and emergency power supply as priority ” Because this inevitable development should not be done in a chaotic manner: the location of data centers should be considered according to the environment, so they should not be needed. constructionconstruction Buildings in natural or agricultural areas. ” Its implementation should be part of the “Zero Net Artificialization” goal of halving the consumption rate of natural, agricultural and forest areas in 2031 compared to the previous decade (2011-2021), then zero net artificialization in 2050. To get »
The heat that is produced must be reused, as is now happening, for example to heat swimming pools. Likewise, the high heat generated by these data centers requires extensive cooling, which consumes a lot of energy, especially water. There are solutions to mitigate this effect, but there is no obligation.
The construction of all equipment necessary for digital technology involves extraction. MetalsMetals heavy: gold, GalliumGalliumiYttriumYttriumthe ManganeseManganesethe GermaniumGermaniumthe CopperCopperiAluminumAluminum Or even SiliconSilicon. However, it is difficult to know what is actually in the products we use: Structure data The matterThe matter are often incomplete, especially due to their sensitive nature (technical and market advantages, intellectual property, etc.); ” Ademe also notes ” Virtual absence of regulations on recycling of various metals ».
It is China that The world’s largest producer of 15 of the 25 metals considered in the study, and in a quasi-monopoly situation for 7 of them. “Adam is worried” Availability to meet future demand in 2030, social impacts, risk to longevity of known reserves, uncertainty over metal availability, geopolitical supply risks » Or even Environmental impacts of extraction and social impacts of extraction ».
The activities are almost all located outside the EU and therefore it is very difficult to get real information on the subject, as well pressurepressure To establish environmental standards.
