Redaksie | Editorial
S
ociety has become more and more involved in
the use of a myriad of technological advances
in the past few years perhaps forgetting that
even the internet of Things, could also become
a topic for caution in the near future. Our immersion
in the digital society – and particularly our growing reliance on the Internet of Things – could mean uncontrolled demand for energy and spiralling emissions of
carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases that
are driving climate change.
Up to now, the team says, there has always been a potential ceiling for increases in data on the internet.
These include the finite, although growing, number of
people on the planet, and the limited number of hours
in a day that people can use online technology. But the
autonomous streaming of data by billions of sensors
built into everything from street furniture, driverless
vehicles and smart home thermostats to industrial production processes such as oil wells removes these potential constraints to growth.
Researchers at the University of Lancaster, UK, say the
growth of remote digital sensors and devices connected to the internet – the Internet of Things – can cause
unprecedented and, in principle, almost unlimited rises
in the energy consumed by smart technologies. They
warn that the world now needs to consider how to
limit data growth on the internet. The scientists say
internet usage has increased significantly in the last
few years, with people watching more video, streaming
programmes on 4K ultra high definition smart TVs, regularly checking their social media accounts, and even
using online social media to track their runs and bicycle
rides.
Dr Mike Hazas, a lecturer at Lancaster’s SCC, says: “The
internet is consuming an increasing portion of global
electricity supply, and this growing consumption is a
significant concern in global efforts to reduce carbon
emissions.”
The UK telecommunications regulator says home
monthly broadband data volumes in the UK rose from
17 gigabytes in 2011 to 82GB in 2015. Data volumes
for mobile devices too are growing rapidly and more
than doubling every few years, according to the IT and
telecommunications companies Ericsson and Cisco. This
increase in data use has meant a rise in energy use,
despite improvements in energy efficiencies. The Lancaster team says current estimates suggest the internet
already accounts for 5% of global electricity use, but
that it is growing faster − at 7% a year − than total
global energy consumption, which is increasing at 3%
annually. Some experts predict that information technologies could account for as much as 20% of total
energy use by 2030.
The researchers believe society needs to think hard
about how to limit data growth before the forecast
growth of the Internet of Things happens. There are
currently 6.4 billion connected Internet of Things devices, a figure estimated to reach possibly 21 billion by
2020.
“The Internet of Things is still in the making and it is
important to consider existing ideas for a ‘speed limit’
to the system, especially in comparison to having to
retrospectively reduce internet traffic in the future,” Dr
Hazas says.
The Lancaster authors acknowledge that it is not clear
how data limits could be imposed, but say options
could include volume quotas and different traffic pricing for the most data-intensive online services. – (Tim
Radford: Climate News Network)
Watch out folks, here comes another controversy!
‘Till next month
Chris