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The Energy Saved By Ditching DVDs Could Power 200,000 Homes

Posted by timothy on from the only-109-more-isolated-numbers-until-the-singularity dept.

Daniel_Stuckey (2647775) writes "The environmental benefits of streaming a movie (or downloading it) rather than purchasing a DVD are staggering, according to a new U.S. government study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. If all DVDs purchased in 2011 were streamed instead, the energy savings would have been enough to meet the electricity demands of roughly 200,000 households. It would have cut roughly 2 billion kilograms of carbon emissions. According to the study, published in Environmental Research Letters, even when you take into account cloud storage, data servers, the streaming device, streaming uses much less energy than purchasing a DVD. If, like me, you're thinking, 'who buys DVDs anymore, anyways?', the answer is 'a lot of people.'" The linked paper is all there, too — not just an abstract and a paywall.

2 of 339 comments (clear)

  1. Nice try cloud guys by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    and i'm sure it's more 'energy efficient' to have apps and office loaded from the cloud too.

  2. Re:environmental benefits by viperidaenz · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    It would be even better if the environmentalists died to further their own cause.