Would you rather start with the good or the bad news? Let's not change habits, let's start with the bad ones.

This is not a scoop, data storage consumes and pollutes a lot! Big Data is growing exponentially and is paving the way for new challenges dealing with data processing. For instance, 29,000 Gigabytes (GB) of information is published worldwide, every second. It may not ring a bell for you, but trust me, it's huge!

With this huge amount of data stockpiled over time, datacenters have been created to store and secure data. What is a data center? It's a kind of digital factory based in highly secure bunkers. Now that data center is no longer a secret for you, you may wonder how does it relate to the environment? Well, if I tell you that these structures are responsible for 2% of CO2 emissions and 1.5% of electricity consumption worldwide. Long story short, this ties in to the production of 30 nuclear power plants. And here I don’t even talk about the building materials of these structures and computer components, which are not at all ecological.

Now that you are in high spirits, do not think that this situation cannot improve. Down with pessimism! In fact, it is possible to review our use of technologies and find solutions to avail cutting-edge technology and behave in an eco-friendly and responsible manner. Our consumption of more and more powerful equipment is increasing day by day in a dizzying way, due to the rise in technologies, more particularly artificial intelligence. The first step in our journey towards a greener Big Data would be to reconsider data in a slightly more ecological context. Yet, don’t get me wrong! Not printing at all or going back to the era where technology did not exist is not the solution! However, making thoughtful choices about the selection of materials and components already makes a big difference. As you may know, the recycling of IT components is almost impossible.

The good news? Solutions exist! From cold water cooling to the use of recycled plastic, through the establishment of repair centers ... Contrary to what most people might think, it is possible to consider the activity as a whole and several stakeholders are looking into the matter. In addition, unused or obsolete data are accumulated and magnified on a personal and professional level. Of course, the volume of those data on a global scale is energy-intensive. What is more, a recent Databerg study highlighted that only 14% of data has an obvious interest concerning business.

On top of that, we use data to respond to a problem and thus find a solution. We cannot expect Big Data to save the planet unless citizens change their habits. It’s in this context that Bid Data has value. Indeed, specific data represent a precious source of information to face the many challenges related in particular to climate change (e.g. green mobility, energy efficiency, agricultural transition, etc.)

Putting data at the service of the energy transition begins with the collection of information, which is carried out thanks to increasingly wide capture modes (from the surveillance camera to the weather sensor, via drones or smartphones). For example, the crowd-sourcing is a data collection method which aims to ask citizens to make available their sensors, phone and tablet, but also connected objects (smart watches for instance or household appliances) to provide measurements in real time and thus create maps of trends (e.g. noise or light pollution). Hence, the analysis of the data collected can allow us to adjust certain habits and to become aware of elements that we should question.

Some examples of ecological initiatives harnessing Big Data:

Thanks to these examples, we can see that data can therefore serve the ecological transition, provided we have a reasoned use of it. The use of technology should not be an automatic reflex. In a nutshell, the use of data must be calibrated in consideration of the environmental impact of the data and their real contribution to the ecological transition.