Bandwidth Wastage is Energy Wastage

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The Internet is plagued by Spam and now Bacn. This has an impact on the Internet and Energy consumption that we have so far not paid attention to.


To tackle the second menace, e-mail service providers like Google (through Gmail) have begun auto tagging them as "bulk" for easier filtering and removal. Increasing use of Internet resources by Spam, Bacon and other Unwanted content consumes valuable energy [as major communication networks get overloaded.]

For each unwanted message which gets propagated or "Like"d on Facebook or commented, it is not only 'Facebook' that spends bandwidth, it is all the users in who access the content who also spend vital bandwidth. This holds good for any content on the Internet, including fun videos, games and the like.

Of the entire market capital raised by Facebook (assuming they do cross their $5bn target) most of the funds are going to be paid to Internet service providers, who are in turn going to pay it to Power/Energy companies who manage their data centers and communication lines.

This is basically power used for communication and for running the data center being utilized for something that has lesser priority. Until the world finds a strong, consistent and long-term alternative for Energy sources, we should all ration our energy use and conserve it as much as we can.

It is better to have an energy reserve that ensures us Food, Sheltering, Heat and Clothing at the minimum than waste it on social networking memes that perhaps are too short-lived or have no intrinsic or extrinsic values. The future of energy is entirely dependent on what we do now in the world.