This is enough to drive a Tesla Model S more than 30km, power an LED lightbulb constantly for a month, or boil a kettle once a day for nearly three months.
Looking at electricity consumption alone, the original Shift Project figures imply that one hour of Netflix consumes 6.1 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity. Media headlines claim that CO2 emissions from 30 minutes of Netflix is the same as driving almost four miles However, because the energy efficiency of data centres and networks is improving rapidly – doubling every couple of years – energy use and emissions from streaming today should be substantially lower. Emissions from operations – comparable in scope to the Shift Project analysis – accounted for only 0.36kgCO2e per hour. That 2014 study found streaming in the US in 2011 emitted 0.42kgCO2e per hour on a lifecycle basis, including “embodied” emissions from manufacture and disposal of infrastructure and devices. The Shift Project’s original “3.2kgCO2 per hour” estimate is around eight times higher than a 2014 peer-reviewed study on the energy and emissions impacts of streaming video, while their “corrected” estimate of 0.4kgCO2 per hour is similar to the 2014 peer-reviewed study. The Shift Project published a follow-up article in June 2020 to correct a bit/byte conversion error, revising the original “1.6kg per half hour” quote downwards by 8-fold to 0.2kg per half hour. The report said streaming was responsible for more than 300m tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) in 2018, equivalent to emissions from France. The figures come from a July 2019 report by the Shift Project, a French thinktank, on the “unsustainable and growing impact” of online video. Contrary to a slew of recent misleading media coverage, the climate impacts of streaming video remain relatively modestĪ number of recent media articles, including in the New York Post, CBC, Yahoo, DW, Gizmodo, and BigThink, have repeated a claim that “the emissions generated by watching 30 minutes of Netflix is the same as driving almost 4 miles”. The updated charts and comparisons also include the corrected values published by The Shift Project in June 2020, as well as other recent estimates quoted by the media. As a result, the central IEA estimate for one hour of streaming video in 2019 is now 36gCO2, down from 82gCO2 in the original analysis published in February 2020.
#Streamcast online update#
Update : The energy intensity figures for data centres and data transmission networks were updated to reflect more recent data and research. But slowing efficiency gains, rebound effects and new demands from emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, raise increasing concerns about the overall environmental impacts of the sector over the coming decades. The relatively low climate impact of streaming video today is thanks to rapid improvements in the energy efficiency of data centres, networks and devices. These exaggerate the actual climate impact by up 90 times. Yet, contrary to a slew of recent misleading media coverage, the climate impacts of streaming video remain relatively modest, particularly compared to other activities and sectors.ĭrawing on our analysis and other credible sources, we expose the flawed assumptions in one widely reported estimate of the emissions from watching 30 minutes of Netflix. Streaming services are associated with energy use and carbon emissions from devices, network infrastructure and data centres. In this commentary, we examine the carbon footprint of these services. With few options left for entertainment, streaming services are taking off. A version of this commentary was originally published in Carbon Brief.Įven before millions were confined to their homes by a global pandemic, improvements in internet connections and service offerings had led to an exponential increase in the use of streaming video around the world.
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