The Carbon Footprint of Streaming
How much could your Netflix habit be affecting the environment?
Streaming TV and movies online saw a huge surge throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, seeing us stream more content than ever before.
But what could the carbon footprint of binging your favourite series be? Streaming uses up energy not just to power your device and stream the content itself, but also in terms of the network infrastructure behind the scenes.
It’s estimated that watching one hour of video uses up 36 grams of CO2, so how does this look when compared to other everyday activities, and which series will have the biggest impact when binged back to back?
Enter your average watch time below to see the CO2 emissions produced, as well as how these stack up against driving a car
Results...
By streaming x hours of content, you generate:
x,xxx grams of CO2 per week
x,xxx grams of CO2 per month
x,xxx grams of CO2 per year
That’s equivalent to driving x miles* in a diesel car
Or x miles* in a petrol car
(*based on yearly carbon footprint)
The CO2 emissions of the biggest TV shows
But how much CO2 would you produce you were to binge-watch an entire series? Here’s a look at the carbon footprint of watching the most popular Netflix original series from start to finish.
While a short series with half-hour episodes such as Emily in Paris would produce just 180 grams of CO2, watching the entirety of Stranger Things would have a carbon footprint of 780g CO2, equivalent to driving just under three miles in a petrol car.
Methodology
Calculations based on an estimate of one hour of streaming leading to 36g CO2 emissions according to the IEA.
The average emissions produced per mile driven in an average petrol (0.27944kg CO2) and diesel (0.26804kg CO2) car sourced from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s greenhouse gas reporting: conversion factors 2021.
Top 10 most viewed English language Netflix original TV shows sourced from What’s on Netflix.