- Report requirements Data centers and the aviation industry both account for 3% each of the global carbon emissions
- By 2026 the world’s data centers will use as much electricity as Japan
- Germany requires very effective data centers from 2026
Increased artificial intelligence activity has led to skyrocket demand for data centers, where new Sphotonix research claims that the facilities are now accounting for the same amount of emissions as the global aviation industry.
Now, 3% of global carbon emissions, the concern is AI and IoT will continue to operate the environmental impact of data centers, and by 2030 they could consume as much as 13% of the world’s electricity.
Sphotonix says that 149 Zettabyte (ZB) data was created by 2024 – after only four years this annual number could stand on 394ZB, about 2.6x more.
Data centers attached to growing emissions
Quantification of the concerns revealed Sphotonix that data centers are currently consuming 460TWh per day. Year, but in only 2026 this could more than double to 1,000TWh, which is about the same as Japan’s total energy consumption. By the end of the decade, these places could account for 2.5 billion tons of CO2.
The research dives into different types of storage and reveals HDD storage used for prolonged cold data storage and archiving actually sues multiple data to keep these HDDs at low temperatures for data protection and driving force for health, large amounts of energy are required. Cold storage and filing account for about three -fifths of all data stored today.
HDDs also tend to have a shorter life than SSDs, which means they have to be copied every seven to 10 years, which comes at the expense of high energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
“In an increasingly digital world, the environmental impact of data storage quickly becomes an urgent concern with the respective governments and regulatory bodies that come in to enforce sustainability standards,” said Sphotonix Chief Science Officer Peter Kazansky.
Kazansky added that Germany will require new data centers to achieve an impact consumption efficiency of 1.2 or less from next year.
“Reliable data management plays an important role in tackling energy challenges, enabling efficient resource distribution and long -term planning,” Kazansky concluded.
