Source: Own illustration
After highlighting the environmental impact of emails in a previous article, we now take a closer look at the digital carbon footprint of digital activities, including email communication. In the previous article, we emphasized that although emails may seem more environmentally friendly than traditional letters at first glance, they still leave their own ecological footprint. We gave some tips on how to make your email traffic more environmentally friendly. But what is the actual environmental impact?
Was is ne CO2 Footprint?
The carbon footprint refers to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by a specific activity or product. The digital footprint is then created by our digital activities such as emailing, streaming, cloud storage and other online uses. It is a unit of measurement for environmental impact and allows us to quantify the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions.
The Figures at a Glance
The calculation of the digital carbon footprint is complex and includes various factors that determine the energy consumption when using digital services. These include data centers, transmission networks, end devices and the way in which these resources are used. Energy consumption is converted into CO2 emissions based on the energy mixes used and the specific emissions of the technologies used. The calculation methods generally take into account electricity consumption, server usage and other aspects of the digital infrastructure.
Studies show that the average digital CO2 footprint of an email is around 0.3 grams of CO2 equivalent. This may seem small at first glance, but when we consider that billions of emails are sent every day, the environmental impact adds up considerably. The CO2 emissions are particularly serious when large attachments or images are sent, which significantly increase the footprint.
In comparison, the CO2 footprint of a normal letter is between 0.03 and 26 grams of CO2 equivalent. This shows that traditional letter writing emits less CO2 on average than sending emails, which we called the Rebound Effect in our previous article.
The Future of Email Use
Does this mean we should do without emails altogether? That is certainly not a realistic option in our digitalized world. Instead, we could focus on improving our email habits. This includes avoiding unnecessary floods of emails and reducing large attachments whenever possible.
Earth Day, on April 22, reminds us of the urgency of taking action against climate change. It also draws our attention to the small steps each of us can take to make a positive contribution. Choosing to send emails more consciously and avoiding large attachments is one such measure.
Tips & Tricks
To leave a greener digital carbon footprint, we have given tips on how to reduce and optimize your email traffic in our previous post. In addition to this advice, we would like to add that it is also important to act more consciously in other digital areas to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. How can you do this?
- Delete unnecessary files and data from the cloud to save storage space and reduce server energy consumption.
- Avoid sending unnecessary attachments and use GigaMove instead, for example.
- Delete unwanted emails and uses group emails sparingly.
- Lower video resolution when streaming and downloads content to reduce energy consumption when watching movies and videos.
- Repair and recycle old devices to avoid e-waste. Buy more sustainable devices with a longer lifespan.
Overall, we should realize that even seemingly small actions like sending emails contribute to climate change. By rethinking our habits and acting more consciously, we can have a positive impact on our environment.
Responsible for the contents of this article are Janin Iglauer and Malak Mostafa.
Sources:
[2] Futura Sciences
[3] Pawprint.eco
[4] Carbon Literacy
[5] Euronews
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