The overlooked environmental footprint of increasing Internet use

(Abstract) at the bottom of the Purdue press release… “The environmental costs of adopting new technologies and habits are often recognized too late, typically when changing the adopted technologies and behavioral norms is difficult. A similar story may unfold if society continues to blindly transition to an unregulated and environmentally unaudited digital world, a transition path that has been facilitated by the fourth industrial revolution and is now accelerated by the global COVID-19 crisis. The newly developed digital lifestyle has major environmental benefits, including the reduction of travel-related CO2 emissions. Yet, increased Internet use has some hidden environmental impacts that must be uncovered (Figure 1a) to make the transition to a low-carbon and green economy successful.” “A new environmental study -- from Purdue University, Yale University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- found turning off the camera during Zoom or video meetings helps reduce a person’s carbon footprint by 96 per cent.”

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