We should make the internet more decentralized. Server Farms are bad for the environment
this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2025
287 points (97.0% liked)
The memes of the climate
2825 readers
1 users here now
The climate of the memes of the climate!
Planet is on fire!
mod notice: do not hesitate to report abusive comments, I am not always here.
rules:
-
no slurs, be polite
-
don't give an excuse to pollute
-
no climate denial
-
and of course: no racism, no homophobia, no antisemitism, no islamophobia, no transphobia
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
And this figure is bullshit, streaming is not a very energy intensive activity. It's so much bullshit that the original estimate mixed up bit and bytes giving a 8x overestimation.
This IEA estimation place the final figure at around 100m of driving, and that is even less if your local grid has a low carbon footprint. And they conclude that in most cases the actual footprint comes from the viewing device itself.
https://www.iea.org/commentaries/the-carbon-footprint-of-streaming-video-fact-checking-the-headlines
Datacenter energy use is concerning but it's not because of streaming itself.
Yeah, it seems like someone has bought stocks in something opposing Netflix and wants to tank Netflix stock a little to line their pocket, therefore spread a little misinfo to be mopped up, like it does.
What if I'm streaming entire works of Shakespeare as remembered by chat gpt?
Please don't, man. It's already 70F at the end of December here in Colorado. I wanna ski SOMETIME this season.
I remember it was basically the same back when Elway won the Superbowls. Colorado has some weird weather some years.
(Not to suggest climate change isn't real)
says experts
Motherfucker I hate this shit. Its always the "Society For Subtling Promoting HBOMax" or the "Institute of Generating Clickbait Headlines" behind these things.
The expert in question is The Big Enormous Generation of Obvious Shitty Lessons on Internet Edutainment Syndicate
BOGUS LIES, for short.
I feel that having the actual acronym spell out "BEGOS LIES" is actually great, since it makes even their name a bogus lie.
I can't believe I did that. Blame it on the sleep deprivation
Ok, idk where they get their data. Driving 4 miles generates on average 1.6kg of CO2 (src). Which is roughly equal to 2kWh oft energy, if we use coal, one of the dirtiest sources (src).
After my calculation, the internet uses 0.17kWh per GB of traffic (src) (800kWh•10e9)÷(4.7GB•10e12).
Now a 30min episode in 4k is maybe 2GB if the compression is unlucky. So about 0.34kWh
Your TV probably takes 50-200W which for 30min is 0.025-0.1kWh.
So after my crude calculation, it's ~1.6kg of CO2 for driving and ~0.4kg of CO2 for 30min Netflix, if we only use coal. Solar, Wind and Nuclear reduce that number drastically.
Solar, Wind and Nuclear reduce that number drastically.
River, where I live 😎💦⚡🔌
🎵They did the math
These numbers rely heavily on outright lying with statistics. I assume that 4 miles is just the fuel cost, while the Netflix figure is inclusive of all the hardware.
This is why nobody takes news seriously anymore - the people writing it clearly don't.
Remember, the people who write this (assuming it isn't AI) were the ones in college who made sure they didn't have to take any math and science beyond the bare minimum.
Those classes don't help with critical thinking. Very little schooling does really.
And you know what else I'm doing while watching TV? Not driving.
Fine. I'll order the DVD on Amazon, get it shipped from the factory to their distribution centre, then shipped to my house. I'm sure that's less than 4 miles worth of co2.
Do the morally good thing and pirate that shit
/ Recycling® has entered the chat