Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
30 March 2023 @ 7 - 7:50pm
Link to these web slides: bit.ly/techpanel-psb
Presenters: Hemphill | Hafez | Beshero| Mason
“A data center is a physical [location] that houses IT infrastructure for building, running, and delivering applications and services, and for storing and managing the data associated with those applications and services” ibm.com/topics/data-centers
Data Storage, Computation - AI
~2,700 in the US, ~8000 in the world
(size dependent - millions)
US International Trade Commission
Md Abu Bakar Siddik et al 2021 Environ. Res. Lett. 16 064017
"The Staggering Ecological Impacts of Computation and the Cloud" The MIT Press Reader
"Data Centers, backbone of the digital economy, face water scarcity and climate risk" NPR , Google Environmental Report
Large tech companies invested in a sustainable future
The Bright Side
“If the Internet was a country, it would be the 4th largest polluter”
The services we provide and services we use will be powered by renewable energy.
The products and services we provide will use the least amount of energy and material resources possible.
The products and services we provide will be accessible, allow for the open exchange of information, and allow users to control their data.
The products and services we provide will not mislead or exploit users in their design or content.
The products and services we provide will support an economy that nourishes people and planet.
The products and services we provide will function in the times and places where people need them most.
Sources: Nathan Hambling, "How your website impacts the environment and what you can do about it" (2023) and Tom Greenwood, "20 ways to make your website more energy efficient" (2019)
Do you really need the fancy dynamic JS framework?
Simple static websites (HTML first) have a lighter carbon footprint
Find a green web host (like GitHub)
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