The advent of easily accessible technology, e-commerce, online streaming, and social networking platforms has led to massive amounts of data being stored and processed every second. The IT infrastructures needed to support this digital age consume a large amount of energy and have a negative impact on the environment. There have been several different efforts to estimate the carbon footprint of the internet, but there is no proven exact method for it. Therefore, the goals of this paper are, first—to critically review the carbon emission calculation methods and compare the results, and second—to publicize the environmental impact of our daily simple habit of internet usage. We calculated the carbon footprint of the most popular four online services (TikTok, Facebook, Netflix, and YouTube) by using top-cited methods such those from Obringer, the Shift Project, Andrae, and Hintemann and Hinterholze. When comparing the emitted carbon dioxide, the weighted average of online video streaming usage per day is 51 times more than 14 h of an airplane ride. Netflix generates the highest CO2 emissions among the four applications due to its high-resolution video delivery and its number of users.
  • beansniffer
    1·
    3 years ago

    Is the data suggesting that having a video call to replace a flight going from New York to Paris and back would result in more Co2 than just actually flying? Am I reading that correctly?

    • CHEF-KOCHOP
      12·
      3 years ago

      No, it is not what is written down.

      Most people think the internet and ICT have less harmful effects on the environment. If we compare the result for boiling water or a Paris to New York two-way flight as shown in Figure 3, then 1 h of video streaming is almost the same as boiling a kettle. but if we consider day-long use as Figure 4, then it generates 13 times more CO2 than the flight. Thus, internet activity as watching online video or internet surfing is considered as an invisible pollutant that generates a substantial carbon footprint.

      • beansniffer
        2·
        3 years ago

        but if we consider day-long use as Figure 4, then it generates 13 times more CO2 than the flight.

        I might have a reading comprehension issue or something, but that sounds like using video conference software to attend a virtual conference for the length of one workday would generate 13 times more co2 than just flying to the conference itself.

        • sproid
          2·
          3 years ago

          I understand it like this: all the energy & effort used to put up just one video that is been seeing by many worldwide is very harmful (carbon footprint). It’s about the scale the social networks work, the interconnected technologies, is just too huge. And if you think the airline industry hurts the environment then you also need to know this other problem.