Uncovering the climate impacts of streaming video.

This is an excerpt from my bachelor thesis for the Informatics and Sustainability Research Group at the University of Zurich. It was written in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Lorenz Hilty. Feel free to contact me if you would like to have access to the full paper.

Abstract

This study sought to calculate the environmental impacts of streaming video in terms of energy use and carbon dioxide emissions, based on technical and geographical parameters. The resulting data was used to create an online carbon dioxide calculator, which allows users to estimate the environmental impact of their own video consumption. The calculator can be accessed online at https://streaming-co2-rechner.ch/. To calculate the environmental impacts, the energy consumption of the various components involved in the distribution and playback of the video content was taken into account: the data centers, the communication networks and the end devices. In an engagement with current studies, it was found that, on average, streaming video emits 62 g CO2e per hour. This is equivalent to driving a car for 430 meters. However, this value can not be applied indiscriminately to any streaming scenario, as there is inherent variability in the estimates depending on various factors. The calculator allows users to identify the factors that most significantly affect the results. These include the country-specific emissions factor for the electricity grid, the video resolution, the choice of end device and the choice of network connection. The study also identified a need for further research into the use of appropriate allocation rules in order to calculate the impacts of streaming video in a more precise and consistent way. It was found that the use of energy consumption values per unit of data is not suitable for streaming and other data-intensive services. This leads to significant uncertainty in calculating the energy consumption of network components, as there is currently a lack of quantitative data and appropriate calculation methods need to be further validated and refined.