Smart Everything Increases Demand for Renewal Energy

The word smart suggests an elevated intelligence. This has expanded to the advanced functionality expected in smart phones, smart cars, smart homes, smart materials and the list continues to grow. Behind all these technological advancements is data. In an increasingly digitalized world the demand for data centers is growing and so is energy consumption.

Research summarized in Science Magazine suggests that 1% of global electricity is used to run data centers, doubling this past decade and expected to triple or quadruple in the next decade.  Who needs all the data centers? Big Tech and as their need rises, they are shaping the renewable energy market. Amazon recently announced plans to purchase 14 new solar and wind plants globally and they are not alone. Google, Facebook, Microsoft have all invested in renewable energy accounting for nearly 30% of global renewal energy purchases by corporations. 

This is great news when concerned about reducing carbon emissions. According to the International Energy Agency renewable energy was the only energy source to see an increase in demand last year and renewable electricity capacity is forecasted to grow around 25% this year.

There are many times when I yearn for simpler days and wonder if the societal cost of a digitalized world makes all these smart products worth it, but if renewable energy is being funded by these advancements it seems like a fair trade.

Write a comment below and share what you think of when you hear the word smart.

Thanks for reading,

Savvy

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Inspiring Reads - 

Smart just got smarter with these books

	Things Fall Together: A Guide to the New Materials Revolution by Skylar Tibbits From the visionary founder of the Self-Assembly Lab at MIT, a manifesto for the dawning age of active materials Things in life tend to fall apart. Cars break down. Buildings fall into disrepair. Personal items deteriorate. Yet today's researchers are exploiting newly understood properties of matter to program materials that physically sense, adapt, and fall together instead of apart. These materials open new...
	Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better by Clive Thompson It's undeniable--technology is changing the way we think. But is it for the better? Amid a chorus of doomsayers, Clive Thompson delivers a resounding "yes." The Internet age has produced a radical new style of human intelligence...
	Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That'll Improve and/or Ruin Everything by Kelly, Weinersmith, Zach Weinersmith From a top scientist and the creator of the hugely popular web comic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal , a hilariously illustrated investigation into future technologies -- from how to fling a ship into deep space on the cheap to 3D organ printing What will the world of tomorrow be like? How does progress happen? And why do we not have a lunar colony already? What is the hold-up?

In Case You Missed It - 

Responsible living is more than just caring about the environment.  Woven into the ethos is taking a stand for social equity and East Fork Pottery has been fully committed to that from day one.  Partnering with community outreach organizations to stretch outside their comfort zone; always paying employees a living wage, they are now working towards increasing wages to a family living wage.  Receiving their Carbon Neutral Certification in April has been another huge milestone.  All these steps and more have earned them B Corporation Certification, read about the journey here. Instead of seeing this accomplishment as the finish line, they view it as an inspiration for making additional changes.  Reading East Fork's About Page was part of our inspiration for starting The Savvy Elephant. AND we haven't even touched on how stunning and beautiful their pottery is!  See for yourself by clicking through to the East Fork Website.  

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