Virtual cleaning, very real impact. In these times of confinement linked to the coronavirus epidemic, it is impossible to go for a walk in nature, even to rid it of waste. If the now famous World CleanUp Day, scheduled for September, is for the moment maintained, nothing prevents the method from being applied to digital today. This is the idea that Florent Debarbieux will try to implement next Saturday, in Mons-en-Barœul.
We may not know it enough, but digital in all its forms is an increasingly important source of energy consumption. There is of course the manufacture of all the tools we use, such as computers, smartphones or tablets, but also the bad habits associated with their use.
Very energy-consuming emails
Can we imagine that the simple fact of sending an email with a 1 MB attachment consumes as much as a 60 watt bulb for 25 minutes? “Everything is stored on very energy-consuming servers. The more data there is, the more servers there are, ”explains Florent Debarbieux, World CleanUp Day referent for the city of Mons-en-Barœul, near Lille.
So, a bit like a test, he decided to organize a Cyber CleanUp Day. "This major digital cleanup will take place next Saturday in Mons, but also in other municipalities such as Tourcoing, Arras or Marcq-en-Barœul," he continues. Before taking care of nature, participants are invited to clean up their digital spaces: empty mailboxes, online storage spaces, baskets or delete unused applications.
Changing habits
Besides organizing a remarkable operation, it is also a question of changing habits: "For World CleanUp Day, the idea is to make people aware of the importance of recycling, the need to produce less waste , if at all. It is the same principle with regard to digital ”, insists the referent of the association. "Streaming clips without even watching the video is useless and consumes a lot of energy," he gives as an example.
In its report The hidden face of digital , published in 2018, Ademe (Environment and Energy Management Agency) gives many avenues to reduce the impact of digital on the environment. The problem in this period of confinement is that screens are the refuge from the boredom of many.
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