According to statistics, the internet accounted for around 6% to 10℅ of total global energy usage last year. And this number has been steadily growing and won't probably slow down any time soon. It surprising fact, something that is already notable when considering climate change.
Each seemingly minuscule action you do consumes some small amount of electricity. Every search, every email, every page load. Not to mention all the streaming services. By some calculations watching one episode of your favourite show on Netflix uses an amount of power equal to generate 10kg of carbon dioxide.
Good thing is that most big players in this industry are environmentally conscious. For example, Netflix seeks to only use renewable energy in its operations, using emission compensation instead where renewable sources are not available. So you can enjoy those shows without feeling guilt.
So green tech thinking is not just making some magical environmental appliances. It's about reducing the footprint. Just like everywhere else. It's small things, a new perspective to be taken into account.
As creators in the internet world, we can make those small chooses. Reduce the size of our sites, optimize the loading of resources. This can lead to less traffic, fewer servers needed and on top of it, the end user appliances won't become obsolete so fast anymore.