Ever think about just how much it costs to send visuals across the Internet? NewScientist (11 May 2019) has a report that startled me:
Huge amounts of energy are needed to power the servers and networks that let YouTube viewers watch more than one billion hours of video every day.
Based on estimates of the electric energy used to provide YouTube videos globally in 2016, a team at the University of Bristol calculated that the firm’s carbon footprint is around 10 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, roughly the same as Luxembourg or Zimbabwe.
A single design change – letting users listen to audio on YouTube with an inactive screen – could reduce its carbon footprint by between 100 to 500 thousand tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. This reduction is roughly equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 30,000 UK homes.
I’m still surprised at the thought of measuring computer usage for its impact on climate change, but it’s certainly a valid consideration. Seeing that a lot of YouTube is is strictly for entertainment – and passive entertainment at that – it sort of speaks to how much local entertainment has been superseded by global entertainment.
Incidentally, I’ve been listening to Chic’s Good Times today in an attempt to chase Colbert’s theme song out of my head. I bought the LP back in the vinyl days, but never got the CD.
