In one year, five Big Tech companies – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix – and Google, consumed 49.7 million megawatt-hours (MW / h) of higher power. than Portugal (48.4 million MWh), Greece (46.2 million MWh) և almost as much as Romania (50 million MWh), according to Rador node.
Great TechPhoto by Waingro, Dreamstime.com
From 2018 to 2020, the energy consumption of the five American giants listed on the Nasdaq almost tripled from 16.6 to 49.7 million MWh.
This was reported by the observer Karma Metrix ESG, which analyzed the sustainability reports of the Faang family (Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Google) submitted by the digital marketing agency AvantGrade.com on the occasion of World Environment Day.
The quarterly ESG reports also show that the 5 technology companies emitted 98.7 million tonnes of CO2, more than the entire Czech Republic (92.1). From 2018 to 2020, the total growth of total emissions was 17%.
However, the study notes that “signs of CO2 depletion are evident at Apple և Google’s greater share of renewable energy sources, with active search for energy efficiency in their data centers.”
It should be borne in mind that the Internet produces CO2 emissions for both inefficient ways of creating websites and applications and for the fossil fuels that feed data centers. According to the Global Carbon Project, if the Internet were a nation, it would be the fourth most polluting in the world.