In our rapidly growing technological world, data storage plays a vital role in the lives of people and businesses. “Data” can refer to anything from business information to photos taken with a mobile phone. The problem is that much of the stored data is only used once and then sent to an archive, where it continues to take up space and resources.
What is Dark Data?
Dark data is Digital Data “This could be multiple nearly identical photos stored in Google Photos or iCloud, old spreadsheets from a company that will never be used again, or data from the internet,” including social media posts and memes, said Professors Ian Hodgkinson and Tom Jackson, from Loughborough University. Policy Briefing The impact of dark data on the environment conversation“This accumulation requires huge energy resources, with data centres potentially consuming more electricity than a country such as the UK.”
Research shows that about 70% of data companies have dark data. People also accumulate dark data in their daily lives. “One photo is not going to have a dramatic impact, but of course if you look at all your past photos on your phone, that’s going to have a pretty significant impact in terms of energy consumption,” Hodgkinson said. Guardian.
Subscribe this week
Escape the echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news and analysis from different perspectives.
Subscribe and save
Sign up for our free weekly newsletter
From our morning breaking news bulletins to our weekly Good News newsletter, we’ll deliver the week’s best stories straight to your inbox.
From our morning breaking news bulletins to our weekly Good News newsletter, we’ll deliver the week’s best stories straight to your inbox.
This data comes at a cost: “When we store data in the cloud, we think of white fluffy clouds, but the reality is that these data centers are incredibly hot, incredibly noisy, and consume a lot of energy,” Hodgkinson said, which translates into a significant carbon footprint.
Why is it bad for the environment?
Storing data requires a huge amount of energy. International Energy Agency Predict Data Centres It will require 1,000 terawatt-hours of energy by 2026, roughly equivalent to Japan’s electricity consumption. “What governments haven’t taken into account until now is the carbon footprint of digitalization,” Jackson said. Energy Monitor“It’s like the iceberg analogy: right now there are big polluters at the top of the iceberg, but beneath the surface there are bigger problems we haven’t seen yet.”
Company estimates Greenhouse gas emissions That’s probably an underestimate. “In the drive to net zero, many organizations are looking to reduce their carbon footprint,” The Conversation article noted. “Guidance has generally focused on reducing traditional sources of carbon emissions through mechanisms like third-party carbon offsets.” And many companies don’t know the emissions that result from their own data usage. “One thing companies can do is start looking at the process of how data comes in and is recycled, who is using it, how much it’s stored, and what value that data has to the business,” Jackson said.
The accumulation of dark data indicates inefficiencies within digital systems. “We’re moving towards a society where we have ‘plastic knowledge,’” Jackson says. “We go to a search engine, get a rough idea of what we want to know or how to do something, and then we throw that information away—kind of like a plastic bag that we use once and throw away.” Addressing these inefficiencies and adding systems that allow for knowledge sharing rather than accumulating data will also help decarbonize the world. This can be done on an individual level by avoiding “reply all” on emails and deleting duplicate photos.
