Data Carbon Ladder
News:
Scientists have developed a new tool to calculate digital carbon footprint of stored data.
What:
- It is a tool to calculate emissions from digital data.
Why:
- It is to help businesses measure the carbon emissions from their digital data.
Significance:
- This tool is first of its kind.
- Consideration of data CO2 footprint is important for effective global decarbonisation policies.
- Data centres contribute 2.5% to 3.7% of all human-induced CO2. This is more than the contribution from the aviation sector (2.1%).
How:
- It will help calculate data CO2 footprint from the origin of the dataset to its end use, eg: AI analytics.
- It gives stage-by-stage CO2 output and overall CO2 footprint for new data projects.
- It will help determine
- The appropriate size of the required dataset
- The optimal frequency for updates
- The most suitable storage locations
- The necessary analytics for projects
- This it does by assigning data carbon scores.
Who:
- By researchers from Loughborough University, UK.
Fact:
- The amount of digital data is increasing 2X every year.
- Data-driven businesses employ 100 full-time employees which will generate some 2,203 tonnes of CO2 emission/ year because of new data.
- Global data is expected to surpass 180 zettabytes, by 2025.
