Clean out your inbox and reduce your carbon footprint.

The current IT sector consumes about 7 % of the world's electricity, and by 2030 this share will increase to 13 %. What does this mean in practice? Every Google search releases as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere as brewing half a cup of coffee. 188 million emails are sent every minute and we forward over 40 million messages across the two most popular messaging apps. We also download almost 400,000 apps a day from app stores. Data centers have the fastest growing carbon footprint in the entire ICT sector, consuming an average of 13,684 MWh of electricity annually, which is enough to power more than 25,000 homes.

Digital carbon footprint

A few years ago, the British Medical Journal covered the story of St George's Hospital in London. When the new helipad was launched there, e-mails with photos of staff members involved in the project were sent daily for 30 days. These emails, which ranged in size from 40 KB to 115 KB, were received by more than 13,240 employees. It is common knowledge that a large email generates 50 grams of carbon dioxide. This British example shows that almost 20 tonnes of carbon dioxide were produced in one month, while the average Briton produces 15 tonnes a year. Research clearly shows that storing junk email in data centers contributes significantly to energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Each email, even if not opened, requires storage and management resources, which increases the load on the energy infrastructure. Regularly removing unnecessary messages from our mailboxes can significantly reduce this impact, hence the whole initiative. It's a simple step each of us can take to help reduce our global carbon footprint and protect the environment.

Cleaning e-mail boxes will not only increase the efficiency of the server, but also reduce the negative impact of our daily activities on the environment. (CO2AI)