Definition

Climate Impact

With phrases like "in the cloud" and "virtual assistants," the digital economy can sound like an environmentally friendly concept without a significant environmental footprint. However, in a 2013 report called The Cloud Begins with Coal, Mark P. Mills notes that the global ICT sector uses as much electricity per year as all the electricity generated in Japan and Germany combined. That's as much electricity as was used to light the entire world in 1985. It represents nearly 10 per cent of the world's electricity generation.

Mills calculated that some smartphones use 361 kWh a year, while some refrigerators use 322 kWh. And while most households have just one fridge, they may have several smartphones, tablets and computers, which tend to be left on permanently.