Is the Internet harmful to the environment - and what is the German record?

Whether social media streaming, gaming, surfing, chatting or reading: What happens online seems detached from the real world. Yet, in the background, the Internet is also quite harmful to the environment.

Always hungry: the Internet requires a lot of resources, and the trend is rising sharply.

At first glance, the Internet seems like magic, but it is only a result of modern technology. This is based on powerful devices whose energy does not come from nowhere.

How environmentally damaging is the Internet really?

The environmentally damaging aspects of the Internet as a whole can be divided into several areas:

• First there is the power consumption on the part of the end users. This is due to PCs, tablets, smartphones and game consoles higher than before.
• Also the production of all these products, which usually exist many times per household, requires resources.
• Even more significant is the environmental impact caused by data centers. Of these, there are more than 50,000 in Germany.
• There are numerous data and statistics, such as the calculation that computer and Internet use in Germany alone causes about 24 billion tons of CO2.
• An interesting comparison: the CO2 consumption caused by the annual Google use of each person is as high as a 150 kilometer bus ride.
• Some subsectors stand out even more extremely - crypto mining serves as a prime example here.

For environmentally conscious consumers, this does not mean having to completely do without the online world. However, careful, conscious use is advisable, green electricity is generally recommended, and switching to energy-efficient devices also helps - not least because your own wallet will thank you for it.