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Electronic e-mail consumes a small amount of electricity in its composition, delivery, and subsequent reception and reading. If the electricity is generated via some renewable resource or by nuclear energy, very little carbon dioxide is emitted, over all. If one assumes all the energy used to produce the computer used to transmit the e-mail, mine the sand (for optical fiber) or copper used to string the transmission cables, and so on, more CO2 is liberated. This, however, is amortized by the volume of data processed by the computer and the information sent over the line. Economies of scale make e-mail transmission far more economical, in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, than sending messages written on scraps of paper.

In terms of greenhouse gas emissions e-mail is probably the most efficient means of communication ever developed, overall. Composition of the e-mail requires the greatest amount of time. A laptop uses anywhere from 15 to 45 watts. A desktop PC consumes between 60 and 250 watts. The message then passes through a router to the mail server of your ISP (internet Service Provider). Their equipment handles it a tiny fraction of a second, in parsing the address to determine where it should go. The message may typically take 20 to 40 hops to reach the destination of the recipient's mail server. If their mail reader polls the server every minute they are probably wasting some energy. It may sit on the server a few minutes or a few days--eventually the recipient's mail client will pull it onto their PC and they will read it. Reading is usually much quicker than writing, so the energy use at that end will be less.

As more and more energy is derived from non fossil fuel sources, the total CO2 emissions will decline. In the grand scheme of things, the CO2 emitted from driving to meet a person enormously dwarfs the CO2 emitted by even millions of e-mails and instant messages.

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What are some effective ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our email communications?

Some effective ways to reduce the carbon footprint of our email communications include sending fewer emails, using energy-efficient devices, and encouraging others to do the same. Additionally, deleting unnecessary emails and attachments can help reduce the storage and energy consumption associated with email servers.


What is the carbon footprint of an email?

The carbon footprint of an email is relatively small, but it still contributes to carbon emissions due to the energy used to send, store, and read the email.


What is the carbon footprint of emails and how can it be reduced?

The carbon footprint of emails is the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced when sending, receiving, and storing emails. It can be reduced by practicing email efficiency, such as sending fewer emails, using energy-efficient devices, and deleting unnecessary emails. Additionally, using cloud storage and data centers powered by renewable energy can help reduce the carbon footprint of emails.


How does carbon dioxide make drinks fizzy?

The gas dissolves when under pressure in a liquid. When the pressure is released the gas expands rapidly causing the fizz.


What is the impact of the carbon footprint of email on the environment?

The carbon footprint of email contributes to the environmental impact through energy consumption from data centers and servers. This energy usage leads to carbon emissions, contributing to climate change.

Related Questions

What does the Cc mean in outlook express?

Carbon Copy.... if you type an email address in that line, that person will receive a copy of the email you are sending. BCC is Blind Carbon Copy meaning that if you type an address in the BCC line, that person will receive a copy of the email you are sending but their email address will not show to the others who received the email.


What is cc in a email?

cc=carbon copy bcc= blind carbon copy. use these when sending to multiple addresses


When sending an email to numerous people on what line should you place the email addresses to prevent recipients from seeing other email addresses?

Bcc: Which stands for Blind Carbon Copy.


What does cc mean on a email lingo?

Carbon Copy...as in sending an email to more than one person. BCC is Blind Carbon Copy..when you send an email to two people, but the person in the "Send to:" category does not know that the person in the "BCC" category has received the same email.


When sending an email to numerous people on what line should you place an email address to prevent each recipient from seeing the other email addresses?

Bcc: Which stands for Blind Carbon Copy.


How do you hire Barry McGuire?

By sending him an email at his email address or by going to this page and sending him a message. http://www.barrymcguire.com/?page=email By sending him an email at his email address or by going to this page and sending him a message. http://www.barrymcguire.com/?page=email


How can you send a email blocking out the people addresses you are sending them to?

Send an email using the Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) field. This will send the email to everyone in that field, but they will only see your email address (From) and their own email (To) and no other address.


What does Bcc mean when sending emails?

BCC means Blind Carbon Copy. Any emails addresses you enter into the BCC field will receive a copy of the email; however, this list will be concealed, so the original recipient of your email won't know it was copied to the people in the BCC list.CC means Carbon Copy, if using this field (as opposed to BCC), the recipients will see who else was copied on the email/ message.It means "blind carbon copy".If you are sending to multiple people none of the people will know who else you are sending it to.;)


Sending an email is an example of data communication?

Sending an email is an example of data communication


When should you use emails?

Cc stands for Carbon copy and means you can send an exact copy of the email you are sending to someone else you only need to use it if you wish to send a copy of that email to another person. If you send a copy using Cc the person you are originally sending the email to will know who you sent a copy to.


What does BBC mean on email?

These stand for 'Carbon Copy' and 'Blind Carbon Copy'. All email addresses in CC and BCC will be sent the email you have written. The difference is that addresses in the BCC list will not be able to see the addresses of anyone else you have sent the email to.


You want email address for sending email?

i have deepa email addres