As a society, but certainly also as a university, we are using more and more data, and we are not sufficiently aware of this. Digital Cleanup Day, this year on 16 March, is one of the initiatives to change that. 'Should all those forwarded videos stay on your phone for years?' The exact size of our digital footprint is difficult to establish, says Bernard van Gastel, assistant professor of sustainable digitalization at Radboud University ‘We know that centres where our data are stored provide 3 per cent of the total electricity consumption in the Netherlands. But other than that, we must do mostly with estimates. Our Wi-Fi hotspots, mobile phones and computers also consume energy, as do all smart devices controlled by artificial intelligence. In total, energy consumption will therefore be a lot higher.' Besides data storage, Van Gastel identifies three things that account for the most consumption. Calculations, sending data and the consumption of devices such as Wi-Fi hotspots that are always on. He points to his own household. 'Three small Wi-Fi devices account for about nine per cent of total electricity consumption. More than the fridge, washing machine, and kettle. An average household In larger organisations, such as Radboud University, the overall picture is more difficult to capture. 'There are energy meters in the large buildings, but you can't tell from those which part comes from ICT and which from things like lighting or heating.' Van Gastel does note that universities underestimate how much energy data storage costs. 'Storing 80 terabytes consumes as much energy as an average household in a year. And 80 terabytes seem like a lot, but for a department at a university, it is not crazy if they store more than 1,000 terabytes of data.' Although there are all kinds of studies underway to store data more energy-efficiently, it will be years before a ready-made product is available. And so, we need to look more critically at how we handle our data and what we consider worth storing. 'Most datasets require a minimum of so many years of storage. You can also turn this around. Set a maximum storage period, requiring researchers to give a reason if they want to store data longer.' Van Gastel points out that universities could take an example from the government in this area. There, many data already have a maximum retention period. ‘They do this not only to be sustainable but also for privacy reasons.' Van Gastel understands that there is always a risk in erasing data. 'Data are like scientific gold, they form the basis for research. At the same time, you may wonder how relevant decades-old datasets still are. In some fields, the way data is collected has already changed considerably in the meantime.' No clear goal? Then erase it In recent years, we have not realised how big the role of data has become, Van Gastel argues. 'Digital Cleanup Day is a good moment to become more aware of this, also as individuals. Start with your smartphone. Should all those forwarded WhatsApp videos and memes still be on your phone after years? If not, they can be deleted.' This awareness is a first step towards more direction on data use within organisations like the university. Cooperation between departments is necessary for this. Van Gastel: 'Now there are still too many little islands with their own data policies who each are reinventing the wheel. We need to move towards joint policies where data storage must have a clear purpose. Otherwise, the dataset will be deleted after a certain time.' Sustainable IT Radboud University is working to make IT more sustainable on campus. Read what the university is already doing and will be doing in the coming years. More information