The infrastructure behind video conferencing and binge-watching “The Crown” on Netflix comprises mainly two parts: buildings that house tens of thousands of servers and the networks that connect servers to smartphones, PCs and other devices. Both require huge amounts of electricity. Data centres use roughly 200 terawatt-hours a year, according to a 2018 study led by Eric Masanet, an engineer at Northwestern University in the United States.
But that trajectory looks unsustainable. Even without the isolation of the pandemic, widespread adoption of next-generation 5G wireless technology, autonomous driving and the internet of things will dramatically boost internet traffic. Moreover, chips that power servers are reaching technological limits, making efficiency gains harder to come by.