“In France, we tend to follow a Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach that includes four factors: GHG emissions (CO2eq), water consumption (Liters), abiotic resources consumption (Sbeq. or Antimony equivalent) and energy consumption (MJ). Like everybody else we measure these impacts on three different poles: data centers, networks and end-user equipment… So what’s the difference with the English-speaking approach? The main focus seems to be on reducing carbon emissions through the vector of electricity.” Gauthier Roussilhe
In the rush to cut CO2 emissions, giant data centre owners like Google have switched from energy-intensive air conditioning to cool the servers, for water cooling. With data centres often built in hot and dry regions, the demand for billions of gallons of water in drought-prone regions creates a new and growing problem.
“In Red Oak, Texas, a town about 20 miles south of Dallas, Google wants as much as 1.46 billion gallons of water a year for a new data center… Ellis County, which includes Red Oak and roughly 20 other towns, will need almost 15 billion gallons for everything from irrigation to residential use.” https://time.com/5814276/google-data-centers-water/
before you start using a piece of electronic equipment, it has already emitted 70% of its lifetime CO2. So the best you can do to avoid emissions is to avoid buying or renewing an electronic device in the first place." https://marmelab.com/blog/2020/09/21/web-developer-climate-change.html
"For example, a 50-inch LED television consumes much more electricity than a smartphone (100 times) or laptop (5 times). Because phones are extremely energy efficient, data transmission accounts for more than 80% of the electricity consumption when streaming.." https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-carbon-footprint-of-streaming-video-fact-checking-the-headlines