Big Data, Big Carbon Footprint?

Photo Credits: Morris, A. (2020, February 27). Data centers use less energy than you think. Northwestern Now. Retrieved from 

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2020/02/data-centers-use-less-energy-than-you-think/

by Paul Macfarlane

Over the past 20 years, we have seen exponential growth in the amount of data used by companies, governments, non-profits, universities, you name it. The data typically has to be stored in data centers: central locations that collect, store and process data. Conventional wisdom suggests that using more data will lead to more energy use. The reality, however, paints a different picture. Researchers at Northwestern University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Koomey Analytics developed a comprehensive study on how much energy data centers use. Their findings were that, despite massive growth in the amount of data used, energy use in data centers has been relatively flat. This indicates that data centers have actually been very efficient in their use of data. While it is a positive sign that data centers have been efficient, Eric Masanet, an adjunct professor in Northwestern’s McCormick School of Engineering and leader of the study on data usage, warns that we should not be complacent (Morris). Masanet mentions that “We think there is enough remaining efficiency potential to last several more years. But ever-growing demand for data means that everyone — including policymakers, data center operators, equipment manufacturers and data consumers — must intensify efforts to avoid a possible sharp rise in energy use later this decade.” In sum, then, while it is good that data centers use energy efficiently at the moment, we need to continue to be proactive in determining new and efficient ways to store, retrieve, and control data.

This topic of data usage provides a perfect example of how the ecological footprint of
technology can be measured in the IPAT model. 

Photo Credits: Fig. 1-14, p. 17 Miller, G. T., and S. E. Spoolman. 2015. Essentials of Ecology. Seventh Edition. Cengage Learning,
Stamford, CT. ISBN: 978‐1‐28519‐726‐5.

Notice how in the IPAT model, particularly in developed countries, that there are arrows
in both directions. The red array pointing up represents an increase in footprint caused
by technology use, and the green arrow pointing downwards represents the reduction
of the footprint by using energy-saving/green tech. In the case of Data Centers, we see
a red arrow that comes from the increase in data usage, but also a green arrow that
might represent the new technological innovations that lead to less energy use in data centers.

I don’t view this topic as overly controversial or complicated. The amount of data in demand by technology users, creators, data centers, websites, private organizations, governments, research institutes, and others is not going to decrease anytime soon. Data is the name of the game today in business, and businesses want more data for analysis and decision making. It is clear then that we need to continue to push the envelope and innovate so that as we use more data, we do not use a significantly larger amount of energy.

Citations: 

Masanet, E., Shehabi, A., Lei, N., Smith, S., & Koomey, J. (2020). Recalibrating global
data center energy-use estimates. Science, 367(6481), 984–986.

Miller, G. T., and S. E. Spoolman. 2015. Essentials of Ecology. Seventh Edition. Cengage 

Learning, Stamford, CT. ISBN: 978‐1‐28519‐726‐5.

Morris, A. (2020, February 27). Data centers use less energy than you think.
Northwestern Now. Retrieved from 

https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2020/02/data-ce
nters-use-less-energy-than-you-think/

Tropical Rainforest Deforestation by Gabrielle VanDeWater

Tropical Rainforests 

Tropical rainforests are areas of the world where there is an abundance of seasonal rain and where the climate is typically moist. Tropical rainforests are beneficial to us and the environment we live in for many reasons. For example, tropical rainforests give us about 20% of the oxygen that we breathe in, they also provide food and shelter for many diverse species. These forests also supply local communities with products including medicines, and nearly half of the medicines today can be linked back to the tropical rainforests. Tropical rainforests are located on a wide band around the equator covering over 6% of the Earth's land. Each year the rainforests lose about 93,000 square miles due to deforestation.

Deforestation. What is it?

Deforestation is the action of clearing a wide area of trees. This is destroying the homes of many different animals, killing animals, and ultimately creating an unsustainable environment for the animals to live in. Deforestation occurs by Agriculture and infrastructure expansion, colonization, cropping and growth in population. Therefore, deforestation rates are mostly directly related to the status of the country's economy. Many governments overlook the protection factor that tropical rainforests have on biodiversity and just focus on the capital they can make from it. 

How does this relate to our course? 

Sustainability is a large topic in this class for good reason. Humans often take more resources than they need in situations where those resources take too long to regenerate so they ultimately are nonrenewable. There are ways to understand deforestation and ways to implement policies that can help yield deforestation at the rapid consumption that it is at now. Two of them are listed below...

1. Sustained yield: this model is based on the idea that when the trees are harvested we only harvest an amount that is less than or equal to the amount of trees regrowth.

2. Timber Certification: making it so consumers have to pay a premium on the products that are harvested from the tropical rainforests. 

My viewpoint:

I believe that since the tropical rainforest makes up 20% of our oxygen we definitely need to apply huge tax or policy such as the Timber Certification so the resources do not get exploited and we lose such a big source of oxygen. If we make it more difficult/expensive to get these resources then companies will not jump through all of these hoops to get them. Decreasing timber consumption will help our earth in many ways, species will thrive, and humans will have a good chunk of our oxygen remain healthy. 

On the left of this image is untouched tropical rainforest. On the right is deforestation of the tropical rainforest that has already occurred.

https://www.wired.com/2015/04/using-smart-satellites-to-monitor-deforestation-from-space/

References

https://enviroliteracy.org/environment-society/environmental-resource-economics/tropical-deforestation/

The Biodiversity Crisis

Elizabeth Cullinan

Biodiversity is a huge component of ecology and sustainability. Biodiversity is the variation in genetics, species, and entire ecosystems. Biodiversity is vital to sustaining life on earth. Extinction is permanent. Once a species goes extinct, it cannot come back and it creates numerous issues for the ecosystem in which in inhabits. Science Daily just recently posted an article on the loss of snake species and the biodiversity crisis as a whole. Michigan State University's (MSU) Maryland-led seven year study is the main subject of this article. They stated, "The loss of any species is devastating. However, the decline or extinction of one species can trigger an avalanche within an ecosystem, wiping out many other species in the process". One species extinction does not standalone, it affects numerous other species as well. The snake species they examined are located in a protected area near El Cope, Panama. The study focuses on how the snake community was wiped out after an invasive fungal pathogen killed most of the area's frogs, a crucial and primary food source fro snake species. But, many of the snake species were detected so infrequently that traditional analysis was impossible. Elise Zipkin, MSU biologist and study leader stated, "We estimated an 85% probability that there are fewer snake species that there were before the amphibians declined". As animals die in large masses, such as amphibian loss worldwide, we question what happens to everything that relies on these animals. This is a challenge for researchers, especially for rare and data-deficient species. The disappearance of frogs has major effects on tropical food chains. As primary consumers, like frogs, diminish there will be a variety of consequences for secondary consumers and consumer levels following. In class, we have covered biodiversity and its importance many different times. We also recently discussed extinction and food chains. This article addressing and incorporates all of these critical ecology topics. I think that biodiversity is the most important aspect of ecology. I love learning about new species and new genes that promote or diminish species in ecosystems. Learning about the diversity within genes, species, and ecosystems is important for a sustainable future. 

Tropical Snake (eyelash viper) (stock image)

Credit: ondrejprosicky / adobe stock

References

Michigan State University. (2020, February 13). Disappearing snakes and the biodiversity crisis. ScienceDaily. Retrieved February 27, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200213160126.htm

Elise F. Zipkin, Graziella V. Direnzo, Julie M. Ray, Sam Rossman, Kaen R. Lips. Tropical snake diveristy collapses after widespread amphibian loss. Science Daily.