The development of new information technologies has undeniably brought about improvements in people’s lives, especially in the months of lockdown during the pandemic. However, this mass consumption of data has brought with it significant energy consumption: between 2001 and 2021, the number of users consuming online resources has grown by 1000%. In fact, during the months of lockdown, due to the generation, storage and transmission of information in large data processing centres, the carbon footprint has increased considerably, with up to 702,000 tonnes of C02 emitted per year.
It is in this context that the project Métodos para optimizar la Eficiencia Energética en la generación, almacenamiento, transmisión y recepción de la información (Methods to Optimise Energy Efficiency in the Generation, Storage, Transmission and Reception of Information) has arisen, through which Natalia Molinero suggests improvements to the generation, storage, transmission and reception of information, by seeking algorithms for energy encoding and distribution that can be energy efficient and maintain the service quality levels offered by the latest standards such as 5G. Thus, with the development of this new technology, the number of bits transmitted would be reduced, the amount of power required would decrease and therefore also energy consumption.
In her project, Natalia aims to explore different types of encoding to optimise not only the amount of bits needed to transmit information, but also the way in which such encoding is generated and the energy consumption of the whole process. The ultimate goal is to change the current model from ‘anything goes to get the best quality service’ to ‘this must be achieved sustainably’.
Natalia, who has always sought to provide creative and innovative solutions to problems, seeks to ensure that technological advances improve people’s quality of life, promoting R&D&I development and providing beneficial solutions for sustainable technological development.