Internet

=== Energy use ===
Estimates of the Internet's [[electricity usage]] have been the subject of controversy, according to a 2014 peer-reviewed research paper that found claims differing by a factor of 20,000 published in the literature during the preceding decade, ranging from 0.0064 [[kilowatt hour]]s per gigabyte transferred (kWh/GB) to 136 kWh/GB.<ref name="Environmental Impact Assessment Review">{{Cite journal|last1=Coroama|first1=Vlad C.|last2=Hilty|first2=Lorenz M.|date=February 2014|title=Assessing Internet energy intensity: A review of methods and results|url=http://publicationslist.org/data/lorenz.hilty/ref-218/2014_Coroama_Hilty_Assessing_Internet_Energy_Intensity_AAM.pdf|journal=Environmental Impact Assessment Review|language=en|volume=45|pages=63–68|doi=10.1016/j.eiar.2013.12.004|access-date=9 March 2020|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923042203/http://publicationslist.org/data/lorenz.hilty/ref-218/2014_Coroama_Hilty_Assessing_Internet_Energy_Intensity_AAM.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The researchers attributed these discrepancies mainly to the year of reference (i.e. whether efficiency gains over time had been taken into account) and to whether "end devices such as [[personal computer]]s and servers are included" in the analysis.<ref name="Environmental Impact Assessment Review" />

In 2011, academic researchers estimated the overall [[energy use]]d by the Internet to be between 170 and 307 [[gigawatt|GW]], less than two percent of the energy used by humanity. This estimate included the energy needed to build, operate, and periodically replace the estimated 750&nbsp;million [[laptop]]s, a billion [[smart phone]]s and 100&nbsp;million servers worldwide as well as the energy that routers, [[cell tower]]s, [[optical switch]]es, [[Wi-Fi]] transmitters and [[cloud storage]] devices use when transmitting [[Internet traffic]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Jim|last=Giles|title=Internet responsible for 2 per cent of global energy usage|website=New Scientist|date=26 October 2011|url=http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/10/307-gw-the-maximum-energy-the.html |archive-date=1 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001113334/http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/onepercent/2011/10/307-gw-the-maximum-energy-the.html}},</ref><ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://conferences.sigcomm.org/hotnets/2011/papers/hotnetsX-final56.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810075940/http://conferences.sigcomm.org/hotnets/2011/papers/hotnetsX-final56.pdf |archive-date=10 August 2014|first1=Barath|last1=Raghavan|first2=Justin|last2=Ma|title=Proceedings of the 10th ACM Workshop on Hot Topics in Networks |chapter=The energy and emergy of the internet |date=14 November 2011|pages=1–6|location=Cambridge, MA.|publisher=ACM SIGCOMM|doi=10.1145/2070562.2070571|isbn=978-1-4503-1059-8|s2cid=6125953}}</ref> According to a non-peer-reviewed study published in 2018 by [[The Shift Project]] (a French think tank funded by corporate sponsors), nearly 4% of global [[carbon dioxide emissions|CO<sub>2</sub> emissions]] could be attributed to global [[data transfer]] and the necessary infrastructure.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/is-netflix-bad-for-the-environment-how-streaming-video-contributes-to-climate-change/a-49556716|title=Is Netflix bad for the environment? How streaming video contributes to climate change {{!}} DW {{!}} 11.07.2019|last=Cwienk|first=Jeannette|date=11 July 2019|publisher=Deutsche Welle|language=en-GB|access-date=19 July 2019|archive-date=12 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190712203905/https://www.dw.com/en/is-netflix-bad-for-the-environment-how-streaming-video-contributes-to-climate-change/a-49556716|url-status=live}}</ref> The study also said that [[Internet video|online video streaming]] alone accounted for 60% of this data transfer and therefore contributed to over 300&nbsp;million tons of CO<sub>2</sub> emission per year, and argued for new "digital sobriety" regulations restricting the use and size of video files.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/|title="Climate crisis: The Unsustainable Use of Online Video": Our new report|date=10 July 2019|website=The Shift Project|language=en-GB|access-date=19 July 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190721144259/https://theshiftproject.org/en/article/unsustainable-use-online-video/|archive-date=21 July 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>
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