05 Jul 2023
Reversing the Digital Pollution Trend
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) account for a significant, long-overlooked pollution. BIRGER. provides its clients with efficient solutions to reverse the digital pollution trend and, at the same time optimise costs.

“A stored email is equivalent to the carbon footprint of a plastic bag.”
Fifteen thousand kilometres. That is the average distance travelled by any digital data (email, download, video, internet search)! According to a recent study, we produce as much information every two days as was generated since the beginning of humanity until 2003!
These data, often unknown and are hard to think about. But, they make it possible to measure the impact of emerging technologies upon the environment. Digital pollution is an invisible pollution, which inevitably settles into our personal and professional lives. How can it be avoided or minimised seems impossible today, or even how to do without these emerging technologies? While BIRGER. does not produce equipment, we, however, provide solutions to our clients and partners.
Data Centres are at the heart of our social and economic ecosystems. By connecting online or to our emails, we are constantly harnessing the digital ecosystem. However, this digital ecosystem is a major consumer of electricity. Data Centres to dissipate lots of heat and they must be constantly cooled, which requires a lot of energy too. Data Centres represent about 1.5% of global electricity consumption, equivalent to about 40 nuclear power plants! And, above all, they account for 2% of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide!
One of the solutions proposed by BIRGER. is server virtualisation. In a nutshell, a physical server is divided into several identifiable and isolated virtual servers using a software application. Each virtual server can independently deploy its own operating systems. In addition to reducing digital pollution, this allows for fewer servers being deployed, less space to host them in the Data Centres, and therefore lower maintenance costs.
Another solution is to take advantage of a change in computer hardware to switch from mechanical hard drives to SDD drives. These are faster and are less energy-intensive.
The use of magnetic tapes is another solution that may seem surprising. With an impressive storage capacity (of up to 45 TB of data), their costs are lower. Inactive and transportable objects are cheaper to produce and to be recommended since they have zero consumption when data is not being accessed.
In addition to these technical solutions, BIRGER. accompanies its clients and partners to evolve their behaviour and encourage them to opt for digital sobriety.
The lifespan of a laptop varies from three to eight years, but on average, they are replaced every two to three years. We propose to optimise the usage time of these tools by subscribing to an extended maintenance and a support contract. One can also increase the lifetime of digital tools by charging their laptops as soon as it reaches 60% or 70% battery to reduce wear and tear, turning off the wi-fi and bluetooth when not in use, and reducing screen brightness whenever possible.
Since a stored email is equivalent to the carbon footprint of a plastic bag, BIRGER. recommends to regularly empty one's mailbox and recycle bin. To make this process less tedious, one can add anti-spam and "smart" and automatic archiving. Finally, it is necessary to get into the habit of downloading instead of viewing online.
Author: Vikash Venkiah, Head of Enterprise Systems and Solutions
Source: JANVIER-FÉVRIER 2023 - Supplément de L’Éco austral n°375