How Comcast improved its internet service’s energy efficiency by 40%

The Internet is not exactly a green technology. Whether it’s the electricity gobbled up by servers, PCs and other tools that access and deliver the online world, or the e-Waste that’s piling up in landfills, being connected has its environmental downsides.

Comcast, though, says it has managed to reduce the electricity it uses to deliver data across its network by 40% over the last five years.

That puts the company close to its goal of doubling its network energy efficiency by 2030, with a goal of cutting the electricity per consumed byte of data in half. Ultimately, Comcast hopes to be carbon neutral by 2035 for Scope 1 (direct emissions from sources owned or controlled by a company) and Scope 2 (indirect emissions from purchased electricity, steam, heat, and cooling) emissions in its global operations.

In 2019, the company says, a terabyte of data would consume 18.4 kilowatt hours of electricity. Last year, that figure dropped to 11.0 kilowatt hours.

“By moving more computing power to our edge cloud, we can leverage leaner, greener technology to process more customer traffic with less electricity,” said Elad Nafshi, executive vice president and chief network officer at Comcast in a statement. “These next-generation technologies will further drive efficiency through real-time performance visibility that can detect issues and self-heal—delivering a service that is better for both our customers and the planet.”

Some 63% of the world’s population is online today. At the start of the 21^st century, that figure was just 8%. That has increased environmental concerns about the impact of activities like web browsing, social media updates, and video streaming.

The average Internet user is responsible for the emission of 229 kilograms of carbon dioxide per year, according to a recent look at the sustainability of digital content consumption. That works out to about 3 to 4% of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. The impact, though, can vary considerably depending on the carbon intensity of the electricity used to power the devices those people are using.

To put that 3 to 4% figure into context, emissions from the aviation industry total just 2.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

There are some ways for individuals to help in the effort to reduce the environmental impact of being online. Video streaming is a much more carbon-intense activity than looking at images or text-based sites. A single minute of TikTok scrolling, for instance, uses twice as much CO2 as a minute on Instagram.

Still, on the whole, users have a hard time determining just what sort of impact their Internet habits have on the environment. Digital carbon usage is largely invisible. There are, however carbon tracker browser extensions, such as Carbonalyser, which lets users visualize their own electricity consumption and the total greenhouse gas emissions their internet habits cause.

Changing user habits, though, will only take care of part of the problem. To lessen the global impact of the Internet on the environment, providers like Comcast will need to continue to find ways to delivery more data with less energy even as demand for their services increases. 

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