Can you trash it?
A lot of tech questions are about where data is stored, how data is stored, or who stores it.
But have you ever thought about if that data should be stored?
The tech sector is estimated to contribute around 2 to 4% of global CO2 emissions and rising. That’s close to aviation.
With current demand and, particularly with AI, consumption is projected to double this year.
That cloud may seem virtual, but it’s made up of gigantic data centres, racks and racks of servers, cooling equipment and more. Most of that turns into e-waste at some point and only about 22% of that is collected and/or recycled.
Every file or photo you store online will consume electricity forever, or until it’s deleted, if it ever gets deleted. This is what’s called “dark data”, information that’s stored but never used or accessed ever again.
Estimates put the percentage of dark data in organisations at 40-90% of all stored data!
Next time you're about to hit the save button, ask yourself: can I trash it instead? A regular data cleanup, sensible retention policies, and a culture of saving less by default could make a bigger difference than you think.
Colin