Maxime Efoui-Hess of French think tank The Shift Project from a study shared that, “Watching a half-hour show leads to emissions of up to 1.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide.” 1.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide is equal to driving a car for 6.28 kilometers.

The studies from the last year indicate that the carbon footprint emitted from online streaming was the size of Spain and that may double this year according to the expert from French think tank Efoui-Hess. Major contributors to carbon footprint from online streaming is Netflix, amazon prime, Hulu and online porn. There are many others but these are some key sites responsible for the majority of the carbon footprint.

Only Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu are responsible for 34% of carbon footprint and the next responsible is online porn. Gary Cook of Greenpeace shared that digital videos are very large in size and with every new generation it is keeping on increasing due to a higher definition of the video.

The more is the data stored on the server, more is the energy required to deliver that data at any point in time when required. Thus a lot of energy is required at and around the data center. Also, the online streaming sites are expanding internationally every year. In 2017 and 2018 Netflix had an increase of 53% internationally. Corporates like Disney and Apple are also planning on launching their streaming sites, which will only add to the carbon footprint on a massive scale.

According to CISCO Network, 80 percent of the internet traffic will be in the form of videos. Web-based video traffic is increasing at alarming rates and is expected to quadruple by 2022. Though various companies have launched projects which now focus on the environment and are finding solutions to such issues and problems.

The Shift Project is one such project where web-browser extensions are being offered. It monitors internet usage and is inclined toward the environment-friendly approach. It displays the carbon footprint emitted, the number of energy levels used and the equivalent amount of kilometers that can be driven by a car.

According to Cook the best hope for survival and saving the environment is “Exercising collective responsibility with individuals demanding internet giants rapidly transition their data centers to renewable energy”

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