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 * DECENTRALIZED PEOPLE

 * Energy
 * Carbon Emissions
 * E-waste
 * 
 * 




ENERGY

VIDEO BY TOM FISK FROM PEXELS


INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

The minimal environmental impact that the internet could possibly have would be
related to the minimum infrastructure required to preserve a single state of the
internet. This static 'snapshot' of the internet would be equivalent to pausing
internet usage across the world without removing the structures that support it,
for future use. This is the baseline energy consumption that is required by the
internet. As this data is difficult to find, we have no estimates as of the
current publishing date of the webpage.


INTERNET INFRASTRUCTURE ENERGY CONSUMPTION

The minimum infrastructure required by the internet alone contributes
significant carbon emissions. Adding in personal devices like smartphones or
laptops creates even more emissions on top of that. Each step in the lifecycle
of a personal device necessitates energy consumption, creates waste, and emits
greenhouse gases. We again have no current data as of the publishing date of
this web page


CRYPTOCURRENCY AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Cryptocurrency exists as an alternative to traditional money (also called fiat
currency), and comes in the form of digital 'coins' (or tokens, which are
derivatives of coins). The first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, was created in 2009 in
an effort to decentralize money, thus freeing it from the rule of banks and
governments. This enables international transactions and removes middle-men,
making transfer cheaper and more efficient. However, without the blockchain,
cryptocurrency does not exist. The blockchain is a public yet immutable
database, also known as a digital ledger. The data is distributed over a swarm
of computers that serve as fact-checkers of the ledger. This allows the
blockchain to be unbiased and trustworthy, as it is upheld by the public rather
than a small group. Crypto holds value in a slightly different way than
traditional money, since it is not backed by anything physical. Its value comes
from its utility, such as international transfers, trade, financial freedom, and
staking (earning interest for holding coins). Cryptocurrency has gained a lot of
popularity as of late, possibly for good reason. However, that does not mean
there is no cost. Following the methodologies of Gallesdörfer et. all in
Consumption of Cryptocurrencies Beyond Bitcoin, we can show how many resources
are dedicated to them.

Cryptocurrencies are typically decentralized and rely on communal transaction
validation. Computers that are dedicated to validating crypto transactions,
called 'miners', spend hours processing these transactions. Using APIs that
track global crypto activity, we use a statistic called the 'hashrate' to track
the computations required to validate each transaction. The hashrate refers to
the number of attempts to validate a transaction, given in units hashes per
second. Depending on the algorithm that the coin uses for validation, we can
apply a conversion from hashrates into 'rated power', a rough estimate of how
much energy is consumed by the existence of the coin. So, given the top 20
crypto currencies, we can show just how much cryptocurrencies could harm the
enviornment. Consider the following hash rates for the top 20 coins:

BTCDOGE25.4151.3180


CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

In conclusion, the personal, societal, and existing impacts of the internet
consume a significant amount of energy. We must be aware of these impacts moving
forward, and find solutions for them

Welcome to projectVBW


EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNET

The internet, in its entirety, contributes strongly to the degradation of the
environment. The words "The Internet" can refer to a variety of unique,
interacting architecture, so it is important to distinguish which aspects of the
internet are being discussed. This article seeks to formalize information
regarding the energy use and related carbon emissions of three specific aspects
of the internet: infrastructures for data storage and transmission, personal
devices connecting to the internet, and cryptocurrencies. We determine these to
be relevant in understanding a minimal environmental impact on the environment,
how individuals contribute to it, and how societal obsessions contribute to it.
Each of the three aspects of the internet will discuss these, respectively.


DEVELOPERS

 * Aleksandr Molchagin
 * Lucas Rizzolo
 * David Xu
 * William Shaw
 * Revaz Bakuradze
 * Terry Nuechterlein


MENTOR

 * Dr. Sandino Vargas-Perez


PROJECT REPOSITORY

https://github.com/Decentralized-People/projectVBW/
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