The Human Factor | Emails, a Negligible Digital Carbon Footprint

Our digital carbon footprint is growing exponentially. And our emails have nothing to do with it. Or almost.

“How can we reduce our digital carbon footprint?” asks Louise.

When you search for this question on the internet, one answer almost always comes up: you need to sort your email inbox regularly. This would be the miracle solution to slow down our exploding digital carbon footprint.

But in reality, “it’s not at all significant,” says Martin Deron, head of the Chemins de transition digital challenge at the University of Montreal.

“By spending 30 minutes on your computer to delete 1000 emails, you will save 5 grams of CO equivalent₂and you will consume about the same amount, estimates the doctoral student. And that’s if we are in Quebec. If we do it in Alberta, we will spend more on powering our computer than on cleaning our email inbox.

Quebec researchers published a study on this subject in 2022, the title of which is eloquent: “Sending fewer emails will not save the planet!”

But our digital carbon footprint still accounts for 3 to 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and that number could triple by 2050. So what’s the problem?

From content to container

The digital carbon footprint includes the amount of GHGs we produce when surfing the internet, sending messages, watching movies on Netflix or videos on YouTube, playing online games, scrolling through content on social networks, or even reading this article.

But this also includes the GHGs generated during the production of the devices we use to consume this content – ​​computers, cell phones, tablets, but also televisions, speakers, video game consoles, printers, external hard drives and headphones.

Each person owns about 12 of these devices, a French study published in 2023 reveals. And before we even buy them, they have already generated much more CO₂ than they will produce during their use.

Production, at the heart of the problem

So if we want to reduce our digital carbon footprint, “we must above all extend the lifespan of our devices,” emphasizes Daria Marchenko, founder of Ecoist Club, an organization that supports companies in their digital ecological transition.

Favor refurbished devices, repair them, invest in a protective case or cover, resist the temptation to change them prematurely for others, more fashionable or more efficient. And when they reach the end of their life, get rid of them by taking them to an eco-center, so that their components can be recycled.

“Today, a smartphone is replaced on average every two years. While very often, the old phone is still perfectly functional,” notes M^me Marchenko.

In Quebec, only 3% of end-of-life cell phones are recovered by Recyc-Québec, according to a 2021 report.

And the use?

As for reducing the footprint we generate by using these devices, the question is more complex.

Let’s take a simple query on Google.

Previously, such a search simply displayed pages that might interest us, based on the words typed in the search bar. But for some time now, Google has added a section to its results: “More questions to ask”.

These questions are formulated using generative artificial intelligence, which works on a model similar to ChatGPT, explains Sasha Luccioni, climate manager at Hugging Face, a platform that aims to democratize artificial intelligence through open-source technologies.

And that’s not good news for our footprint.

“Google has no transparency on this. But in our research, we have shown that generating information can require 20 to 30 times more energy than simply searching for it and displaying it,” she explains.

Towards a “greener” internet?

There are some “small gestures” that can help reduce the footprint of our internet usage, such as lowering the quality of the videos we watch (which account for 80% of the internet’s data flow, according to a 2018 Shift Project report), or avoiding using ChatGPT when a calculator or internet search would suffice.

But the impact of these efforts remains difficult to quantify, since the web giants do not communicate detailed figures on their own footprint.

“We shouldn’t feel guilty every time we do a Google search; we really need to look beyond the individual,” insists Sasha Luccioni. “These companies have a monopoly, but also a lot of money and power. Above all, governments need to act and ask them to be more transparent about their environmental impact.”

Green light: Cleaning of the banks on Saturday in Sainte-Catherine

On the occasion of the Ka Halawai festival, a riverbank cleanup will take place at Récréoparc Sainte-Catherine on Saturday, September 7, between 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Gloves, tongs and collection bags will be provided, but registration is required.

The event is presented by the Blue Organization, which regularly plans cleanups with volunteers along the St. Lawrence, its tributaries and in the Gulf. Since 2019, nearly 20 tons of waste have been removed from the beaches.

He said

Together, we can be a game changer and inspire positive change on a large scale.

Pierre Cossette, Rector of the Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS), on the creation of the first Interdisciplinary Research Chair on “Net Zero Strategies” and the Life Cycle at the UdeS. The work of this chair will aim to assess different strategies aimed at achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 and to anticipate rebound effects, to determine which ones should be prioritized.

Source: University of Sherbrooke

Figure: 85%

The Atikamekw First Nation of Opitciwan, a community that relies on diesel for its energy needs, inaugurated a biomass power plant on August 28. Fueled by waste from the local sawmill, it could reduce the community’s greenhouse gas emissions by 85%. The $70-million project will be carried out in collaboration with Hydro-Québec and supported by the governments of Quebec and Canada.

Source: The Canadian Press