So energy isn't so bad (still seems like a lot though), so that makes me wonder about the pollution then. Is there something about Data Centers that add to pollution? I imagine if they're hooked to green sources, like wind or solar, they'd be even cleaner than cars.The Chevy Spark can make it 0.7 miles in the amount of energy it takes me to watch an hour of Netflix.
I regularly see snark on Twitter pointing out that the incel in his mom's basement pwning n00bs in COD is better for the environment than the SJW flying to Haiti to plant trees or whatever. Here's the sad thing: your energy use is insane. All of ours is. Let's say you want to eat a piece of toast. Turning it from "bread" to "toast" is 1500W 1/30h = 0.05kWh. If I put you on an exercise bike and had you pedal for an hour you'd probably burn about 0.08kWh. We won't talk about the fridge keeping the butter cold, the car that got it from the grocery store, the energy to keep the lights on at the grocery store, the truck that brought it to the grocery store, none of it. If you're having a banana for lunch, it's probably traveled 3000 miles to get to you. The Netflix side of the equation is almost moot and still, if I hooked you up to your TV like Gilligan you couldn't quite muster up enough energy to power the TV, the router and* the light over your head. Here's the happy thing: Right there, at the very end, for the first time in history, wind and solar edged out coal. I want you to keep in mind: when I grew up, we were worried about (A) a new ice age (B) nuclear winter (C) malthusian famine due to overpopulation (D) peak oil being hit about 1982 so this whole "wind and solar edged out coal" thing is fuckin' magical to me. Australia is still on fire, to be sure, and we appear to be entering a decade of authoritarian oppression but there are green shoots.
Indeed. The more mindful I try to be about how I live my life, from the foods I eat, to the things I buy, to my day to day activities, the more I realize I do and use and take so much. I openly talk about the stuff I try to do right and why I think these things are important, like cut down on red meat, but I'm constantly self chastising myself for the things I don't do right, like energy use. People say sometimes, when I talk to them about these things, "Don't be so hard on yourself. You're just one person. Look at company x or government y and what they do!" Which is true. But even though I know I'm just a drop of water in the ocean, I'm still part of the tsunami, and even though I'm trapped by the inertia of the waves, I'm aware of what's going on and those calmer waters that I want to be a part of feel so impossibly far away. It's a hurtful knowledge to have.Here's the sad thing: your energy use is insane. All of ours is.