"Using the Internet is like always flying a jumbo jet"
Romain Jacob, a post-doctoral researcher in Prof. Vanbever's group, is trying to make the Internet more energy proportional: that means using energy when there is high demand, for example, for watching the FIFA World Cup final, but consuming much less during low-demand periods. Romain calls this "putting the network to sleep."
The aviation industry consumes between 1 and 2% of our worldwide energy today. The telecommunication industry? About twice as much. The Internet accounts for most of it but it may be wasting a large share of its energy. D-ITET researchers believe that the Internet can—and should—be made more energy efficient.
Sending emails or streaming Netflix is more resource efficient than physical mail or buying DVDs. The Internet enabled those savings via digitization, but the Internet itself is not energy efficient: Sending an email consumes less energy than mail, but it could consume much less than it does today.
It’s a bit like air travel: Planes are heavy and require a lot of energy to fly off. To make it worthwhile, airlines aim to fill up every plane. When the COVID pandemic started, pictures of nearly-empty airplanes (rightfully) resulted in a public outcry: So much energy spent for little benefit… Well, today’s Internet is not that different.
The Internet is designed to be robust and fast. To guarantee good connection, networks are often over-dimensioned: Think of it as always flying a jumbo jet, in case there are many passengers, where there are usually only a few. A lot of energy could be saved by flying a smaller plane—or taking the train, but that’s off-topic.
This news article was written by Romain Jacob as part of the "Writing for the Public" course offered by the ETH Communication Academy.