You’re probably familiar with the concept of “ecological footprint”. It’s a personal indicator linked to our lifestyle’s impact on the planet, usually measured in hectares, because it literally estimates the extension of productive land and sea areas that a person would need, not only to produce the resources they consume but also absorb the waste they generate.
The individual indicators add up. At some point, in a particular territory the total ecological footprint exceeds its biological capacity, tipping the scales into negative numbers: now, we need resources beyond the readily available and, additionally, and pollute an area larger than the land available.
To no one’s surprise, humanity is failing when it comes to sustainability: our ecological footprint is 73 % larger than the surface area of our planet, according to the latest data collected by the Global Footprint Network (2026). To satisfy our current demands, we would need a second planet almost as big as Earth.
Tools like the ecological footprint calculator help us to become more aware of our own consumption and identify which habits we can easily change:
A shameful mark on the calendar
Another way of thinking about our impact on the planet is Earth Overshoot Day, a date that marks the exact point at which humanity has consumed all the resources that Earth could naturally regenerate in an entire year. It is estimated that this year we will have depleted our resources by 30th July, with yet another five months until the “consumption clock” resets.
This is progressively getting worse. Since the turn of the 21st century, we have been shaving months off the calendar: in the year 2000, Earth Overshoot Day fell on 23rd September, whereas back in the 1980s, humanity managed to maintain a beautiful balance until late November.
“We are stretching the limits of how much ecological damage we can get away with – it is now a quarter into the 21st century and we owe the planet at least 20 years of ecological regeneration, even if we stop any further damage now. If we still want to call this planet home, this level of overshoot calls for a scale of ambition in adaptation and mitigation that should dwarf any previous historical investments we have made, for the sake of our common future,” comments Dr. Lewis Akenji, board member of Global Footprint Network.
Inevitable consumption and squandering: two very different things
Out of all the consumption we engage in, there is always a part that is inevitable: we need a minimum amount of resources, and we generate a certain amount of waste. However, there is another portion of that consumption categorised as “squandering”, which is where we find energy waste – an unjustified excess of energy.
Energy waste includes both fuels and electricity, as well as all devices with poor energy efficiency. All this waste has a significant impact on Earth because, on a finite planet, how we use our limited resources we have matters – and it matters a lot!
Most of us contribute to the generation of energy waste in our day-to-day lives: we only have to think of all our tech devices, such as smartphones, tablets and computers, and the constant use of screens. As mentioned before, there is always an inevitable level of consumption, like using a smartphone to keep in touch with our friends and family, using a computer for work, or a tablet to read a beautiful book… However, there are simple steps to make our consumption as responsible as possible.
- Unplug chargers: it sounds simple, but we don’t always do it. If we leave our chargers plugged in, we are wasting energy for no purpose at all.
- “Power saving” mode helps: try lowering the brightness on your smart devices, and you will soon start noticing how much battery it saves. Likewise, the “energy-saving” mode delivers exactly what it promises by limiting background activities, which are major drains of energy and resources.
- Turn off your devices when not in use: screens left unlocked indefinitely, computers that don’t go to sleep… all of this represents avoidable energy waste. If you’re going away for the weekend and won’t be using your computer, turn it off!
- The cloud takes up space—and consumes energy! The cloud is not some imaginary place where you can store all the junk emails you’ll never need again. Information is stored in servers, all of which require resources (hard drives, memory, space…) and energy to work and remain refrigerated – it’s estimated that “the cloud” consumes 1.5% of the global electricity, a figure forecast to double before 2030. Clear out old emails and files regularly; both your peace of mind and the planet.
Alongside our own individual choices as users, a small step in the long quest to sustainability, we must also consider a whole range of technological and scientific advancements designed to make more efficient electronic devices.
In this regard, at SPARK-e, a project funded by the European Innovation Council, we are convinced that we can contribute significantly to this small revolution against squandering: our phase-change materials (PCMs) will regulate the excess heat from smartphones, tablets and computers, whilst also transforming this waste into a new source of energy.
The combination of scientific knowledge and social commitment is, undoubtedly, the safest bet for designing a viable energy future. A future with a positive footprint, which no longer leaves us ‘in debt’ to the Earth.
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