Web providers must limit internet's carbon footprint, say experts

Soaring online demand stretching companies’ ability to deliver content as net uses more power and raises costs

Theinternet‘s increasing appetite for electricity poses a major threat to companies such as Google, according to scientists and industry executives.

Leading figures have told the Guardian that many internet companies are struggling to manage the costs of delivering billions of web pages, videos and files online – in a “perfect storm” that could even threaten the future of the internet itself.

“In anenergy-constrained world, we cannot continue to grow the footprint of the internet … we need to rein in the energy consumption,” said Subodh Bapat, vice-president at Sun Microsystems, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of web servers.

Bapat said the network of web servers and data centres that store online information is becoming more expensive, while profits come under pressure as a result of the recession.

Continues @ http://www.guardian.co.uk

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