ARK DATA CENTRES uses 4 % of all the energy we consume to meet our data needs from end to end .”
This breakdown highlights an often-overlooked aspect of digital sustainability : the role of consumer behaviour and end-user devices in the overall energy consumption picture . While data centres can represent an easy target for criticism due to their large , centralised nature , the reality is that consumers ’ personal devices , data transmission networks and the servers supporting our data demands play a far more significant role in the environmental impact of our digital lives , than a data centre .
“ In the old days , you took photographs with a 35mm camera ,” Pip continues . “ You had 36 shots on a roll of film and you were careful about how you took those pictures . You probably printed four and put them in an album and the rest got binned . Now , for every photo , we take two because one might not be perfect . And we don ’ t delete the one that ’ s not perfect , we store it in the cloud and leave it there - forever .”
This shift in behaviour has led to an exponential increase in data storage requirements . “ People expect things to happen instantly ,” Pip says . “ When I started out in engineering back in the late 1970s , if I went to a site , I communicated with the head office by telex machine . You ’ d go to the post office , type four words to report your progress and get a response back maybe the next day . Now , people want an instant response . Someone sends a WhatsApp message and expects an immediate reply . That is all data , and it ’ s all being kept and stored for ever .” arkdatacentres . co . uk 9