Spam mails come with a carbon footprint

Hence forth when ever I will empty my inbox of the spam mails, I am going to be leaving some carbon footprint behind. And this non-green cycle starts from the spammer’s den. The Carbon Footprint of Email Spam Report by McAfee reveals that these junk mails are not only a nuisance to people but also to our environment as it contributes to green house gas (GHG) emissions. The global report declares that about 33 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) which is equivalent to energize 2.4 million homes is generated annually. And the GHG emissions can be compared to 3.1 million passenger cars using 2 billion gallons of gasoline. And if you want to figure out your participation to this whole revelation then its time to know that a single spam message equals to 0.3 grams of CO2.

It is also known that 80% of the energy consumption associated with spam messages come from people having to do spam maintenance. Spam filtering accounts for only 16 % of the energy use and saves the electrical equivalent of taking 13 million cars off the road per year. And what can be done to reverse or reduce this? Stopping spam at its source and also using state-of-the-art spam filtering technology to save energy equivalent to taking 2.3 million cars off the road.
Bottom line – Invest in a worthwhile anti-spam software.
[McAfee]