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@ -52,22 +52,22 @@ Then what you need to do is going renewable for your digital data. Go with clean
## How is my digital world is powered?
Maybe your digital service provider such as your chat app or photo cloud, is already run by clean energy. But likely they are not. This picture gives you an overview of what the energy sources are per country in Europe - and remember, Europe is on the better side of the world in terms of energy sources. But even in Europe you can see most countries still use unsustainable energy sources.
Maybe your digital service provider such as your chat app or photo cloud, is already run by clean energy. But likely they are not. This picture gives you an overview of what the energy sources are per country in Europe - and remember, Europe is on the better side of the world in terms of energy sources. But even in Europe you can see most countries still depend on non-renewable energy sources.
![](Desktop/git/ungleich-staticcms/content/u/image/energy-source-by-country.jpg)
Most people don't really know or care where their data is physically at. We kind of know what's bad with fast fashion or disposable plastics - that they are easy to use but destroys our environment and creates too much carbon emission - and the same logic applies to our digital data. We need to think about the easy options out there are in fact bad for the environment, say the messanger or the community chat everybody around you uses, or the cloud that just comes with your device by default. In the meantime the [IT service industry grew as big as aviation industry in terms of carbon emission](https://time.com/46777/your-data-is-dirty-the-carbon-price-of-cloud-computing/) and now it takes about 2% of total global carbon emissions. So it is really about time we start to feel towards and act responsible with our digital choices.
So to reduce or avoid your digital carbon footprints, you can start by finding out where your data physically is, and what kind of energy the infrastructure uses. Most of the times it's not that hard to find out, and if it's hidden, you need to request the information to be disclosed to your provider. Where are they keeping their servers, and what is the energy source they are using? Are they running servers with coal or other fossil fuels? Or nuclear power? Or renewable energy such as water, solar or windpower?
We already know that fast fashion and disposable plastics are bad - that they are easy to use but destroys our environment and creates too much carbon emission in its lifecycle - and the same logic applies to our digital data. We need to acknowledge that the widely available digital services are in fact bad for the environment, say the messanger or the chat everybody around you uses, or the cloud that just comes with your device by default. As a matter of fact the [IT service industry grew as big as aviation industry in terms of carbon emission](https://time.com/46777/your-data-is-dirty-the-carbon-price-of-cloud-computing/) and now it takes about 2% of total global carbon emissions. So it is really about time we start to act responsible for our digital choices.
The first step for reducing your digital carbon footprint is finding out where your data physically is to know what kind of energy the infrastructure uses. If the information is hidden, you need to request your provider to disclose it. Where are they keeping their servers, and what is the energy source they are using? Are they running servers with coal, oil or other fossil fuels? Or is your digital service run by nuclear power?
## Zero Carbon VS. Carbon Offset
When you pay attention to the energy sources of your digital services, you see that some of the digital service providers are claiming they are green because they do carbon offset. Then we need to ask, can carbon offset be an answer for the current environmental crisis we are in?
The short answer is a no. Imagine, when a glass is full, not adding any drop to it would be the best approach if we do not want to overflow the glass. What we need right now is zero carbon emission from the energy source (meaning produced by 100% renewable source such as water or solarpower) and not carbon offsetting. Carbon offsetting, roughly translates into using whatever energy source available (say coal or nuclear) and paying money for funding projects for reducing the CO2 that are already added to the air. Carbon offsetting is obviously better than not offsetting, but not emitting CO2 from the energy source is ultimately better than CO2 offsetting.
When you pay attention to the energy sources of your digital services, you see that some of the service providers claim they are *green* because they do carbon offset. Then we need to ask, can carbon offset be an answer for keeping the temperature down?
The short answer is no. Imagine, when a glass is full, not adding any drop to it would be the best approach if we do not want to overflow the glass. What we need right now is *zero* carbon emission from the energy source (meaning produced by 100% renewable source such as water or solarpower) and not carbon offsetting. Carbon offsetting, roughly translates into using whatever energy source available (say fossil fuel or nuclear) and paying money for funding projects for reducing the CO2 that are already added into the air. Carbon offsetting is obviously better than not offsetting, but not emitting CO2 from the energy source is ultimately better than CO2 offsetting.
## Use the small and renewable digital services
There are two ways to reduce carbon emission from our digital data. One is finding the ones who are doing zero carbon already, and supporting them by using those instead of others. This has an obvious advantage of running your digital services only on clean energy, thus you will have zero carbon emission in terms of energy used for your digital life. And on top of it, by supporting the zero carbon standard you encourage the new service providers coming into the market to consider starting clean with renewable energy.
Two is pushing your digital service provider to change how they are running their servers, to go fully renewable. The advantage of this will be that the change will affect a bigger number of people when really done. The disadvantage of this solution is that bigger companies take more time in changing their huge infrastructure, while even more CO2 will be emitted from them into the air.
There are two ways to reduce carbon footprint from our digital data. One is finding the ones who are running by zero carbon already, and supporting them by using those instead of others. This means your digital life is only enabled by clean energy, and you will have zero carbon emission in terms of energy used for running your services. By supporting zero carbon standard you encourage the new service providers coming into the market to start clean with renewable energy.
The second way is pushing your current service provider to change how they are running their servers, to go fully renewable. The advantage of this will be that the change will affect a bigger number of people, when really done. The disadvantage of it is that bigger companies take much more time in changing their huge infrastructure, while even more CO2 will be emitted from them into the air.
We want to stress that, for those who care and who are capable, go for the first option. It is for the same reason as the zero carbon vs. carbon offset. When there are those who already doing the right things, go with them now, instead of continuing with [those who plan to reach their goal in coming decades.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-20/amazon-s-emissions-bigger-than-some-rivals-trail-walmart)
## Zero Carbon takes over the unsustainable options