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The Environmental Footprint of Digital Technology
A hedged overview of the energy, materials and waste behind devices, networks and data centers, and why estimates of the digital footprint vary so widely.
Society and Learning
Technology and the Environment
Energy, materials and sustainability questions in the digital world.
Data Centers Explained: What They Are and Why They Use Energy
What is inside a data center, why servers need constant power and cooling, and what shapes how much energy a facility uses, explained without hype or invented numbers.
Device Lifespans and the Right to Repair Debate
Why devices are replaced when they are, what the right to repair movement argues, what manufacturers say in response, and how longevity ties to waste.
Electronic Waste: What It Is and Why Recycling Is Hard
What counts as e-waste, the main waste streams from phones to appliances, and why collecting, sorting and recovering materials from electronics is difficult.
Green IT: Practical Ways Organizations Reduce Technology Impact
A general survey of green IT approaches, from device lifecycles and energy-aware computing to data housekeeping and procurement, with caveats about measurement.
Precision Agriculture: Sensors and Data on the Farm
How farmers use GPS, sensors, drones and data analysis to manage fields more precisely, what benefits are claimed, and the costs, data and access concerns.
Smart Cities: Technology in Urban Life
What smart city projects typically involve, from connected sensors to data platforms, and the public concerns about privacy, surveillance, equity and cost.
Smart Grids and Technology in Energy Systems
How digital sensors, meters and control software are being added to electricity networks, why that helps integrate renewables, and the security and privacy issues.
The Energy Cost of Training AI Models
Why training large AI models needs so much computing, how energy use is estimated with a hypothetical example, and what remains uncertain about AI energy use.
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