Bad News: Binge Watching Is Causing The Earth To Burn

Do you binge watch? I do. Lately, what with the weather closing and such, I’ve been binge watching the heck out of a bunch of shows. Masterchef Canada, Hell’s Kitchen season 11 and 12. As such, I’m Evil for carbon pollution

(Huffington Post)  Our video streaming addiction might be affecting the world outside our living rooms more than we thought.

Greenpeace released a report on Monday rating video streaming companies by carbon footprint, and a couple big ones, including Netflix and Hulu, didn’t fare too well.

That’s because all those “Stranger Things” and “Gilmore Girls” episodes are delivered to our phones, laptops and TVs via massive servers that use up a lot of energy, which can come from renewable sources or nonrenewable ones, like coal.

Although the company has made bold claims about its energy efficiency in the past ― stating that watching Netflix is greener than breathing ― it received an overall D grade. Hulu fared even worse with an F, while Amazon Prime received a C. Out of streaming companies included, YouTube (owned by Google, whose energy use the organization praises) earned the best grade ― an A. Greenpeace evaluated companies on factors including energy mix, commitments to renewable energy, transparency on energy sources and advocacy for clean energy.

Oh, hey, that’s great! I’ve been doing it on Youtube, so, I don’t need to be sent to a re-education camp! Hooray! I might have to write a Knowledge Report on my mom and a few friends, who stream the others.

These people are nags.

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3 Responses to “Bad News: Binge Watching Is Causing The Earth To Burn”

  1. Dana says:

    Cooking shows? What’s up with that?

    I have to admit: my wife and both daughters can watch the Food Network all day long, and some of the shows are decent, but I absotively, posilutely hate the competition shows, where the cooks are racing the clock. Food should be well-prepared, not speed-prepared.

    Of course, Giada’s cleavage is always worthwhile, and might even make a good if all you see week.

  2. Liam Thomas says:

    I watch a show about liberals so Im okay.

    Its called the Walking Dead.

  3. Jeffery says:

    So the world is not going to burn. Here’s a bit of context from the Greenpeace report.

    The IT industry’s energy footprint accounted for 7% of global electricity in 2012, a number set to grow as global internet traffic increases, and even exceed 12% by 2017. Video streaming accounts for 63% of global internet traffic in 2015, and is projected to reach about 80% by 2020, according to Cisco Network Traffic Forecast, 2016.

    Perhaps 12% of global electricity use will be from IT this year. Of that, some 60-80% is from video streaming. All told less than 10% of electricity use will be from youngsters streaming videos.

    But certainly there’s little harm in the companies relying on renewable electrical energy sources.

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