Internet threatened by power drain

The Internet is endless, right? Wrong. The Internet is power hungry and its increasing appetite for electricity may soon cause a disaster. "In an energy-constrained world, we cannot continue to grow the footprint of the Internet...we need to rein in the energy consumption," Subodh Bapat, vice-president at Sun Microsystems, told the Guardian.

Bapat said more data centers and servers are needed, even as the cost of making that happen becomes more expensive, says the article. More energy is needed all the time, according to scientists who estimate the energy footprint of the net is growing by more than 10 percent each year. There are also environmental concerns that stem from this need. Companies have to work harder to achieve energy efficiency--both for carbon reduction and to avoid website failures and communication disruptions that cost millions in lost business.

For more on energy and the Internet:
- check out this Guardian.co.uk article

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