Weekly Update 31

October 7, 2022

Hey everyone! The US has pardoned thousands convicted for weed possession — a step that could eventually lead to the decriminalization of marijuana. Before you freak about this historic move, here are a few other top stories that you need to know:

• Russia becomes the biggest supplier of weapons to the Ukrainian army

• Women are charging men up to $3,000 after a relationship or a date

• Why Kim Kardashian got fined for shilling crypto, but Matt Damon didn't

#InternetOfWaste

👩‍💻 Everything we do on the internet, from streaming shows to reading blogs, requires storing, moving, or sharing data, and creates waste.

🏟️ We bind the processes in data centers: massive buildings filled with computers, some as big as several football fields, which require enormous water and energy sources.

💻 You know how the bottom of your computer gets hot? That is what happens at data centers but on a massive scale.

Data centers, please stop drinking my water

🏭 Big data centers, like Google's, use billions of liters of water yearly because they generate a lot of heat.

💂 Data centers in London have been using drinking water to cool their equipment — it came to light when the river Thames started drying up.

Heat recycling is the hot new thing on the block

🥵 Data centers account for 1% of global electricity use annually and emit massive amounts of heat.

🌊 So, cities in Norway and Sweden are trying to recycle this heat by directing it into groundwater systems, which can warm buildings up.

💸 However, the infrastructure required is costly, and building it in places not set up for it may be challenging.

Who's doing it: Facebook, H&M, Microsoft

🏠 Facebook uses heat from its Denmark data center to warm 6.9k homes.

🔄 H&M in Denmark, Telecity in Paris, and IBM's data center in Switzerland also recycle waste heat to reduce costs and emissions.

😮‍💨 Microsoft plans to build a data center operating on 100% emission-free energy in Finland, providing district heating and cutting 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually.

Added perks

♻️ Recycling heat generated by internet waste can create a more widespread circular economy.

🚰 Data centers no longer need to look for resources like potable water for cooling, which means they could be built anywhere and bring high-paying jobs and money to rural areas.

If you have any feedback, drop it here. Have a great weekend!