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green4T

www.green4t.com

total volume of energy produced in the world. In exact numbers, 201
TWh , equivalent to 40.4% of all electricity consumed by Brazil in
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2021 (497 TWh).
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The ‘hyperscalers,’ large-scale data processing providers, consumed
the largest share: 93 TWh. Next came cloud servers (69 TWh) and
traditional data centres (39 TWh).

Beyond data centres, measuring the total electricity consumption of
the sector is a challenge, due to its vast capillarity. However, for the
sake of analysis, the British consultancy Transforma Insights suggests,
for example, that new devices equipped with IoT sensors will increase
the sector’s electric expenditure by 34 TWh by 2030.

Equally complex is the calculation regarding the GHG emissions of the
ICT industry. According to the IEA, data centres and data transmission Eduardo Marini, CEO, green4T
networks would account for 0.6% of global CO2 emissions .
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For researchers from Lancaster University (UK) and Small World Part of this efficiency achieved is measured by the metric called Power
Consulting, who authored the report The climate impact of ICT: A Usage Effectiveness (PUE), which presents indices ranging between
review of estimates, trends and regulations, from 2020, the more precise 1 and 3, where the latter indicates a highly inefficient infrastructure
percentage would be between 2.1-3.9%. In worse scenarios, such as (spending 3x more than the possible efficiency scenario).
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the one estimated by Swedish researcher Anders Andrae, the world’s
data centres will consume about 20% of the electricity produced in the In 2022, our team of specialists produced a simulation regarding the
world, being responsible for 5.5% of carbon emissions. 12 optimization of PUE in Brazil � from 2.40 (consumption index of the
sector in the country) to 1.67, close to the global average. This would
Seeking alignment with the goal established by countries in the Paris allow for an energy saving of 4.7 TWh, equivalent to the electrical
Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate charge consumed by 2.4 million Brazilian families.
Change (UNFCCC), to limit global warming to 1.5°C above pre-
industrial levels, the ICT sector would need to reduce its emissions THE WATER FACTOR
by 45% by the end of this decade � as guided by the International Another relevant point in the debate about the energy efficiency
Telecommunication Union (ITU), the UN agency for information journey of data is the reduction of water consumption in the cooling
technologies. process of data centres.
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Therefore, all companies, organizations and governments that require This practice is common in the industry to prevent server overheating,
data processing for their activities will need to embark on a journey especially among large ‘hyperscaler’ companies. One of these “tech
of energy efficiency in their IT strategy, aiming to reduce GHG giants,” for example, claimed to have used 4.3 billion gallons of water
emissions and mitigate the environmental cost. � about 16.2 billion litres � for this purpose in 2021. Another company
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admitted to having consumed 84 million litres in the same year to cool
green4T has been working to reduce electricity consumption in data just one data centre in Middenmeer, northern Netherlands. 16
centres, private clouds and near-edge, far-edge ecosystems by up
to 60% � essential parts of the technological infrastructure that have The connection between data processing and water consumption is
allowed the exponential growth of digital businesses. 14 simple to understand: the more the adoption of disruptive technologies
like artificial intelligence and machine learning advances, the more the
The strategy includes the adoption of multidisciplinary management number of data processing cycles grows. This implies the development
actions, which operate in the physical (hardware) and logical (software) of even more potent computers that, to process quickly, use more
fields of data processing environments. The aim is to promote a more energy and heat the servers. Water use comes in as an alternative to
positive relationship between the energy consumption of the data we air induction cooling systems in the environment. »
need on our digital journey.

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