Digital technology currently plays an increasingly important role in our daily lives. Citizens use it to carry out administrative procedures, obtain information or for entertainment. However, digital technology consumes a great deal of energy, which has a significant environmental impact on current and future generations.
Without electricity, there is no digital technology
The power consumption of devices (computers, smartphones, connected objects, etc.) is increasing as their numbers grow, driven by the rise in digital usage. For its part, electrical consumption of networks remains stable once the infrastructure is in place. However, the power consumption of data centres is skyrocketing, driven by the growing needs of artificial intelligence (AI).
In France, digital services already account for 11% of national electricity consumption, not including electricity generation outsourced through the use of services hosted abroad.
Without digital technology, there is no low-carbon electricity
There is a little-known dependence of low-carbon electricity on digital technology. Digital technology plays a key role in managing the power grid. Numerous sensors collect and process data to optimise this management.
Stakeholders in digital technology are furthermore investing heavily in low-carbon energy sources such as solar or wind power to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and enhance their image.
However, producing low-carbon electricity further increases the use of digital technology, which itself requires electricity. This cycle is leading to a surge in electricity and digital production, with no regulatory mechanism currently in place to limit it.
The ever-present dependence on minerals
The decarbonisation of electricity aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, one of the causes of climate change. But this transition requires large quantities of minerals: copper (an irreplaceable conductor of electricity), lithium, lead and cobalt for batteries, rare earths for wind turbines, and numerous metals for digital technology – a single smartphone contains more than sixty of them, for example.
Minerals are a finite resource. They have existed since the creation of the Earth and are concentrated in the subsurface as a result of geological events. Unsurprisingly, the richest and most easily accessible mineral deposits were the first to be mined: the mineral content of subsurface deposits is now decreasing, so more energy is needed to extract new minerals.
What about recycling? Not only does this source not provide enough to meet today's needs, it fails to achieve the purity required of minerals used to manufacture new electronic components.
To make human activities sustainable, civil society is brimming with initiatives. Focusing innovation on reducing consumption and increasing efficiency could improve the quality and sustainability of essential digital services without unnecessarily depleting limited mineral reserves.
