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The Environmental Cost of Internet Porn (theatlantic.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report (condensed for space): Online streaming is a win for the environment. Streaming music eliminates all that physical material -- CDs, jewel cases, cellophane, shipping boxes, fuel -- and can reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 40 percent or more. Scientists who analyze the environmental impact of the internet tout the benefits of this "dematerialization," observing that energy use and carbon-dioxide emissions will drop as media increasingly can be delivered over the internet. But this theory might have a major exception: porn. Since the turn of the century, the pornography industry has experienced two intense hikes in popularity. In the early 2000s, broadband enabled higher download speeds. Then, in 2008, the advent of so-called tube sites allowed users to watch clips for free, like people watch videos on YouTube. Adam Grayson, the chief financial officer of the adult company Evil Angel, calls the latter hike "the great mushroom-cloud porn explosion of 2008." Precise numbers don't exist to quantify specifics, but the impression across the industry is that viewership is way, way up. Pornhub, the world's most popular porn site, provides some of the only accessible data on its yearly web-traffic report. The first Year In Review post in 2013 tabulated that 14.7 billion people visited the site. By 2016, the number of visitors had almost doubled, to 23 billion, and those visitors watched more than 4.59 billion hours of porn. And Pornhub is just one site. Using a formula that Netflix published on its blog in 2015, Nathan Ensmenger, a professor at Indiana University who is writing a book about the environmental history of the computer, calculates that if Pornhub streams video as efficiently as Netflix (0.0013 kWh per streaming hour), it used 5.967 million kWh in 2016. For comparison, that's about the same amount of energy 11,000 light bulbs would use if left on for a year. And operating with Netflix's efficiency would be a best-case scenario for the porn site, Ensmenger believes.
... and also think of ...
The amount of reasons some people will find to ban things they "don't like".
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
You had me all worked up about the amount of electricity used, but then - just 11k bulbs?
That's not even enough to light a single wing of Al Gores' mansion (here's I'm just speaking about the primary mansion, not all of the secondary ones).
Think I'll skip the outrage on this one, especially considering the vast benefit that pro brings humanity. You wonder why there's not been a WWIII? Internet porn.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
NO ONE CARES!
What about the fact that folks have a *right* to do whatever they want with their computer, their bandwidth, and their fucking life! Jezuz, did this come from the same assholes who were shaking their fingers at us over Bitcoin energy consumption? Here's a hint: go fuck yourselves. Nobody gives a two small shits about your opinion on what's "okay" for them to be using resources they paid for. If you think it's a waste, well, then we have something in common because I think all the watts/joules put into SJW hot air is a big waste of energy, too. Judgmental pricks what they are.
So, watching porn uses ONLY 0.0013 kWh per streaming hour. Just about ANYTHING else will use heaps more...like watching TV (~110W), making tea (~2 KW), driving a car (tens of KW).......
THEREFORE watching porn saves a huge amount of energy that you'd otherwise be using instead.
It's a porn shift. Trees are spared because magazines not published anymore. All the books that once populated shelves in "adult" book stores. Then there's the peep shows that are gone as well with their dark booths. I knew one Tech Sergeant when I was in the Air Force who have over 500 8mm (the old reel type) films. The simple fact is that streaming is replacing traditional porn materials. I can't help but believe it's environmentally better.
Africa needs more porn then?
And women wonder why men these days don't want to get married....geez, pretty soon with all the guff going on, they'll be wondering why men don't even want to try to approach, talk or meet them.
God save us if they ever get pr0n VR done right. If men can get full on sexual simulation.....the earth population will head dive to 0 quickly.
I mean, if a guy can get full on sex without the hassle of the nagging of women, the catering to their fickle whims, the risks of unwanted children AND most importantly, the very real risk of losing half of everything you own.....guess which venue for sexual release he'll pursue?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
Where the fuck did you learn to pick up women? Jesus Christ, just start with, "hey, I'm blah, can I buy you a drink"? It comes across that you're upset you can't be an asshole anymore. "That dress would look good on the floor next to my bed" is funny, but was never appropriate.
If these people stopped watching porn, and instead increased their social interaction, and maybe even went on a date using a gasoline powered car, the environmental consequences would be far, far worse.
Not to mention the far more devastating environmental costs of procreating.
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
And for an added benefit, women won't have to deal with the likes of you, either.