Have you ever thought about the environmental impact of your inbox? Probably not, but it turns out that deleting emails can actually help save drinking water. It sounds crazy, but here’s the surprising connection between the two.
Data centers, which store all our emails, require massive amounts of energy to operate. In fact, they’re responsible for about 2% of the world’s carbon emissions. And where does that energy come from? Often, it’s from power plants that use water to cool their systems.
So, when you delete an email, you’re reducing the demand on these data centers and, in turn, the energy they need to operate. Less energy means less water used for cooling, which means more water available for drinking.
It’s not a huge impact, but every little bit counts. And when you consider that millions of people are deleting emails every day, it adds up.
Of course, this isn’t the only way to conserve water. But it’s a surprising example of how our daily habits can have a ripple effect on the environment.
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*Further reading: [Newsweek article on emails and water](https://www.newsweek.com/emails-water-ai-data-centers-2113011)*