The internet is a big place. Since it’s inception, the world wide web has become literally a world unto it’s own. Today, there are 2.4 billion internet users. That’s double what it was compared to the internet population in 2007. In addition to these users, the content is matched tenfold. It would take 7 million dvds for each hour the internet has existed to capture all of that data. So much information that it is estimated that by 2063 there will 4 times the amount it is today. That’s almost 966 exabytes. psst 1000 gigabytes = 1 terabyte, 1 exabyte = 1,000,000 terabytes! That’s a TON of information. This will take an incredible amount of energy to store and power. In fact, the internet itself uses about 1.5% of global electricity. All that electricity’s got to come from somewhere. This infographic delves into the unintended consequences that comes with all of the Cat memes and tweets that we hold so dear to our digital hearts. We should be informed and aware of how our internet is powered and how that power affects our world, for better and for worse. [via]
