How technology is transforming the circular economy
Posted: Mon Dec 23, 2024 8:39 am
Every year, humanity uses more natural resources than the planet can regenerate. However, when it comes to expanding the circular economy , the IT industry is one of the biggest enablers of this social and economic shift towards sustainability and the green economy .
Above all, because current technology and the innovative vision of companies like Dell make it possible to offer businesses and society a wide range of scalable solutions that generate real value and a measurable impact on the circular economy .
Seven types of digital technologies that are key to the circular economy
Global sustainability experts have identified up to seven different types of digital technologies that already play or will soon play a fundamental role in the implementation and promotion of thousands of circularity initiatives : digital access, cloud, cognitive computing , blockchain, high-speed internet, IoT and digital reality.
Of these, three are driving particularly impressive advances across multiple how to get uk whatsapp number circularity business models: the cloud, cognitive computing, and the Internet of Things .
However, the computing power needed to power all these technologies can require a huge amount of resources: electricity for power equipment, water for cooling facilities, physical materials, the impact of manufacturing that equipment itself…
In this context, to take the lead and develop credibility as a circular solution, technology-based companies must apply their experience in developing solutions that not only help other circularity initiatives in other industries, but also, as the saying goes, must help “clean their own house.”
At Dell Technologies, our circular design approach aims to eliminate the concept of waste by continuously reusing resources. A vision that allowed us to announce in 2019, a year in advance, that we had achieved the goal of recovering more than 900 million kilos of technology equipment from businesses and consumers.
Cloud and virtualization, pillars of physical and digital sustainability
If we focus on the benefits of the three technologies mentioned above, perhaps the cloud is the one with the greatest potential to promote sustainability within the IT industry itself. According to a study by Accenture, migration to the public cloud can reduce up to 59 million tons of CO2 annually, which would be the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the roads.
Looking inside the cloud, virtual servers function like physical computing resources, but without additional infrastructure that requires more space and more power.
The cloud thus enables organizations to reduce the number of servers, storage capacity, devices, and networking appliances required for a physical setup. This creates multiple benefits that support a circular economy.
For example , virtualization enables greater utilization of existing resources, which means less equipment and less energy demand. For example, it is estimated that up to two-thirds of the data that companies create and store will never be used or touched again.
And storing that amount of underused data equates to a larger carbon footprint per year than the entire airline industry combined. So the use of cloud computing, virtualization and cognitive computing help reduce the amount of data and improve the quality of the data we need.
On the other hand, making the most of the equipment in use also reduces the amount of resources needed to build new equipment, and at the end of its life , there is also less electronic waste, a key environmental responsibility within the technology industry.
Nicola Peill-Moelter, Director of Sustainability Innovation at VMware’s Office of the CTO, gives a simple example of a success story: a company with 1,000 servers in a non-virtualized environment that they helped virtualize, managing to reduce it to 200 servers – the equivalent of an 80% reduction in IT infrastructure. Now multiply that globally.
How to reduce the carbon footprint?
Of course, the green impact doesn’t stop there. It’s exponential and expands beyond energy and carbon footprint. Having fewer data centers also reduces the load on the power grid , possibly avoiding the creation of new power plants, as well as the water and emissions impacts they create.
Less equipment also means less manufacturing waste. The land that was being used to house this infrastructure can be repurposed with sustainability in mind. Finally, fewer emissions from coal plants could mean fewer health problems, saving even more valuable global resources.
Ultimately, cloud service providers are often in a much better position to manage overall IT equipment utilization, power and cooling efficiency, and energy provisioning. This efficiency means fewer servers to perform a given amount of work , maximum energy efficiency, and potentially significant reductions in the carbon footprint associated with computing.
Beyond its sustainability benefits, virtualization also enables organizations to deploy and scale digital operations more quickly , with easy scalability, which can reduce costs and increase revenue. And as technology’s role in promoting sustainability continues to increase, a multitude of untapped business opportunities are also being created.
The impact of cognitive computing on the circular economy
Another digital element that impacts the IT industry's own circularity practices are cognitive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning .
In this area, it is worth noting that Dell Technologies workstations include underlying firmware that learns how a person uses their computer and then edits its own code to optimize performance based on those patterns, reducing energy usage and increasing user efficiency.
Another Dell AI feature enables predictive maintenance of computer hardware. Instead of waiting for a part to wear out, an algorithm calculates when a part is likely to fail and sends a replacement part before any disruption occurs. Additionally, any replaced parts that are still functional or repairable are reconditioned and reused.
Innovations that leave a positive impact on the planet
As we look to sustainable innovation in the future, it is important that IT innovations are created not just for the sake of the business innovations and efficiencies they bring, but to develop the digital economy with a true purpose of leaving a positive impact on our planet.
Nicola Peill-Moelter, director of sustainability innovation at VMware, believes that one day we will even see astonishing advances as compostable servers as the ultimate exponent of the circular economy . For her, the key to these advances will be to look at where the world is going, where the customer is going and where technology is going.
And today, we can already see how technology and its contribution towards a green, sustainable and circular economy goes beyond its own industry and is allowing other sectors of activity in fields as diverse as agriculture, medicine or manufacturing to participate in this circularity.
Other news of interest:
Above all, because current technology and the innovative vision of companies like Dell make it possible to offer businesses and society a wide range of scalable solutions that generate real value and a measurable impact on the circular economy .
Seven types of digital technologies that are key to the circular economy
Global sustainability experts have identified up to seven different types of digital technologies that already play or will soon play a fundamental role in the implementation and promotion of thousands of circularity initiatives : digital access, cloud, cognitive computing , blockchain, high-speed internet, IoT and digital reality.
Of these, three are driving particularly impressive advances across multiple how to get uk whatsapp number circularity business models: the cloud, cognitive computing, and the Internet of Things .
However, the computing power needed to power all these technologies can require a huge amount of resources: electricity for power equipment, water for cooling facilities, physical materials, the impact of manufacturing that equipment itself…
In this context, to take the lead and develop credibility as a circular solution, technology-based companies must apply their experience in developing solutions that not only help other circularity initiatives in other industries, but also, as the saying goes, must help “clean their own house.”
At Dell Technologies, our circular design approach aims to eliminate the concept of waste by continuously reusing resources. A vision that allowed us to announce in 2019, a year in advance, that we had achieved the goal of recovering more than 900 million kilos of technology equipment from businesses and consumers.
Cloud and virtualization, pillars of physical and digital sustainability
If we focus on the benefits of the three technologies mentioned above, perhaps the cloud is the one with the greatest potential to promote sustainability within the IT industry itself. According to a study by Accenture, migration to the public cloud can reduce up to 59 million tons of CO2 annually, which would be the equivalent of taking 22 million cars off the roads.
Looking inside the cloud, virtual servers function like physical computing resources, but without additional infrastructure that requires more space and more power.
The cloud thus enables organizations to reduce the number of servers, storage capacity, devices, and networking appliances required for a physical setup. This creates multiple benefits that support a circular economy.
For example , virtualization enables greater utilization of existing resources, which means less equipment and less energy demand. For example, it is estimated that up to two-thirds of the data that companies create and store will never be used or touched again.
And storing that amount of underused data equates to a larger carbon footprint per year than the entire airline industry combined. So the use of cloud computing, virtualization and cognitive computing help reduce the amount of data and improve the quality of the data we need.
On the other hand, making the most of the equipment in use also reduces the amount of resources needed to build new equipment, and at the end of its life , there is also less electronic waste, a key environmental responsibility within the technology industry.
Nicola Peill-Moelter, Director of Sustainability Innovation at VMware’s Office of the CTO, gives a simple example of a success story: a company with 1,000 servers in a non-virtualized environment that they helped virtualize, managing to reduce it to 200 servers – the equivalent of an 80% reduction in IT infrastructure. Now multiply that globally.
How to reduce the carbon footprint?
Of course, the green impact doesn’t stop there. It’s exponential and expands beyond energy and carbon footprint. Having fewer data centers also reduces the load on the power grid , possibly avoiding the creation of new power plants, as well as the water and emissions impacts they create.
Less equipment also means less manufacturing waste. The land that was being used to house this infrastructure can be repurposed with sustainability in mind. Finally, fewer emissions from coal plants could mean fewer health problems, saving even more valuable global resources.
Ultimately, cloud service providers are often in a much better position to manage overall IT equipment utilization, power and cooling efficiency, and energy provisioning. This efficiency means fewer servers to perform a given amount of work , maximum energy efficiency, and potentially significant reductions in the carbon footprint associated with computing.
Beyond its sustainability benefits, virtualization also enables organizations to deploy and scale digital operations more quickly , with easy scalability, which can reduce costs and increase revenue. And as technology’s role in promoting sustainability continues to increase, a multitude of untapped business opportunities are also being created.
The impact of cognitive computing on the circular economy
Another digital element that impacts the IT industry's own circularity practices are cognitive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning .
In this area, it is worth noting that Dell Technologies workstations include underlying firmware that learns how a person uses their computer and then edits its own code to optimize performance based on those patterns, reducing energy usage and increasing user efficiency.
Another Dell AI feature enables predictive maintenance of computer hardware. Instead of waiting for a part to wear out, an algorithm calculates when a part is likely to fail and sends a replacement part before any disruption occurs. Additionally, any replaced parts that are still functional or repairable are reconditioned and reused.
Innovations that leave a positive impact on the planet
As we look to sustainable innovation in the future, it is important that IT innovations are created not just for the sake of the business innovations and efficiencies they bring, but to develop the digital economy with a true purpose of leaving a positive impact on our planet.
Nicola Peill-Moelter, director of sustainability innovation at VMware, believes that one day we will even see astonishing advances as compostable servers as the ultimate exponent of the circular economy . For her, the key to these advances will be to look at where the world is going, where the customer is going and where technology is going.
And today, we can already see how technology and its contribution towards a green, sustainable and circular economy goes beyond its own industry and is allowing other sectors of activity in fields as diverse as agriculture, medicine or manufacturing to participate in this circularity.
Other news of interest: