Netflix & Amazon Win the Dirty Power Oscar

How much is your chill time heating the planet? 

Online streaming and catch-up services, think Netflix, Stan, Amazon and iView now deliver unprecedented volumes of episodic television, films and documentaries on any Internet connected device with a screen.

When it comes to determining what streaming service is best, consumers are being guided by content offerings like best shows, best streaming speeds & service or best home entertainment buying.

The giant size hoofprint of cloud

Little attention is being turned to a greatest eco-consumer consideration of these services: the huge personal carbon footprint created by streaming data. It's entirely understandable because we think of the cloud as what it is - air. The facts of course are entirely the opposite. Cloud delivery is supported by massive energy chewing datacentres - and a lot of them. 

ON DEMAND STREAMING IS TAKING UP A HUGE CHUNK OF INTERNET TRAFFIC. NETFLIX IS THE CLEAR KING AND RESPONSIBLE FOR 15% OF ALL GLOBAL INTERNET TRAFFIC WHICH CAN SPIKE LOCALLY UP TO 40% DURING HIGH USAGE PERIODS.  

That statistic alone is mind-blowing.  Add to the fact that Netflix uses one of the best video compression tools going, and so without its fancy algorithm, its Internet traffic domination would be much higher. Now that shouldn’t be an issue if the energy required to generate data transfer and run data centres is sustainable.  The problem is, its usually not and knowing how we power digital infrastructure and data centres holds to key to being a better eco-consumer. 

Apple leads, Netflix lags

The truth is that there is a staggering variation across the range of service providers. Apple and Google are clear strides ahead of the pack in using renewables to power their data centres. Netflix determined carbon offsetting, not investment in renewables, to be its strategy of choice yet hasn’t published any updates on its efforts in this area. And that is generally something to be concerned about.

IPCC Report & data consumption

The frightening IPCC report released in October 2018 cites lifestyles choices as a key strategy to keep global warning under the critical 1.5 degree celsius mark, and we all can do these things right now:

BUY LESS MEAT, MILK, CHEESE AND BUTTER AND MORE LOCALLY SOURCED SEASONAL FOOD - AND THROW LESS OF IT AWAY • DRIVE ELECTRIC CARS BUT WALK OR CYCLE SHORT DISTANCES • TAKE TRAINS AND BUSES INSTEAD OF PLANES • USE VIDEOCONFERENCING INSTEAD OF BUSINESS TRAVEL • USE A WASHING LINE INSTEAD OF A TUMBLE DRYER • INSULATE HOMES • DEMAND LOW CARBON IN EVERY CONSUMER PRODUCT

Your choice of streaming service is a response to that last point - demanding low carbon in every consumer product. Examine your streaming provider and habits today.

Bonus tip

And one last thing: If you think signing up to video-streaming is your own personal protest against the consumerism generated by the advertisement saturated world of free-to-air television, you’re being bluffed. In the on demand world, product placement rules, and at time of writing 74% of Netflix’s shows contain product placements. Interesting, isn’t it?

Update from Netflix regarding offsets

An ethical superannuation investor has pointed out to us that Netflix claim to "purchase renewable energy certificates (offset non-renewable energy) to match our non-renewable energy use and fund renewable energy production from sources like wind and solar." Assuming this is correct and while it may not change the kind of energy Netflix uses, it is offset. 

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