Streaming videos online has a lower carbon footprint than using DVDs, according to research published in Environmental Research Letters.
Shifting all DVD viewing in the US in 2011 to video streaming would have saved about 30 petajoules of energy and avoided 2 billion kg of CO2 emissions. In total, DVD watching in 2011 required about 192 PJ of energy and emitted 10.4 billion kg of CO2, according to a team of researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Northwestern University.
The power demand of the end-user DVD player, the data transmission energy, and consumer travel for store DVDs were the three factors that most affected the environmental footprint of video viewing, reports environmentalresearchweb.
As part of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s efforts to reduce operational carbon emissions 15 percent by 2020, compared to 2012 levels, the company also says it will encourage consumers to acquire films digitally, which it expects to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 75 percent against a 2012 baseline.
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