{"title":"Energy consumption of data transfer: Intensity indicators versus absolute estimates","authors":"Gaël Guennebaud, Aurélie Bugeau","doi":"10.1111/jiec.13513","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The assessment of energy consumption of data traffic for Internet services usually relies on energy intensity figures (in Wh/GB). In this paper, we argue against using these indicators for evaluating the evolution of energy consumption of data transmission induced by changes in Internet usage. We describe a model that estimates global impacts for different scenarios of Internet usages and technological hypothesises, and show that it can overcome some limitations of intensity indicators. We experiment the model on four use-cases: basic usage, video streaming, large downloads, and video conferencing. Results show that increasing the resolution of videos does increase the total energy consumption while misleadingly decreasing the power intensity indicator at the same time. In other words, a more efficient network does not necessarily mean less energy consumption.</p>","PeriodicalId":16050,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Industrial Ecology","volume":"28 4","pages":"996-1008"},"PeriodicalIF":4.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-06-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Industrial Ecology","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jiec.13513","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The assessment of energy consumption of data traffic for Internet services usually relies on energy intensity figures (in Wh/GB). In this paper, we argue against using these indicators for evaluating the evolution of energy consumption of data transmission induced by changes in Internet usage. We describe a model that estimates global impacts for different scenarios of Internet usages and technological hypothesises, and show that it can overcome some limitations of intensity indicators. We experiment the model on four use-cases: basic usage, video streaming, large downloads, and video conferencing. Results show that increasing the resolution of videos does increase the total energy consumption while misleadingly decreasing the power intensity indicator at the same time. In other words, a more efficient network does not necessarily mean less energy consumption.
期刊介绍：
The Journal of Industrial Ecology addresses a series of related topics:
material and energy flows studies (''industrial metabolism'')
technological change
dematerialization and decarbonization
life cycle planning, design and assessment
design for the environment
extended producer responsibility (''product stewardship'')
eco-industrial parks (''industrial symbiosis'')
product-oriented environmental policy
eco-efficiency
Journal of Industrial Ecology is open to and encourages submissions that are interdisciplinary in approach. In addition to more formal academic papers, the journal seeks to provide a forum for continuing exchange of information and opinions through contributions from scholars, environmental managers, policymakers, advocates and others involved in environmental science, management and policy.
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