A Cloud of Emissions

​“Are you still on Facebook?” Marg looks over my shoulder.  She looks annoyed.  “You aren’t only wasting time, you are adding to greenhouse gas emissions”.
Me: “What?  This laptop uses very little power.  And besides, most of our electricity is from hydropower, which has no emissions.”
Marg: “It’s not your power use that I’m worried about.  It’s the electricity running the Facebook data centres.  I’ve heard that if the internet were a country, it would be the 6th biggest user of electricity in the world.  You cyber-stalking your work mates is using heaps of electricity, most of which is probably generated using fossil fuels.”
She can’t be right. I’ll ask Google Assistant. “Hey Google! What’s the greenhouse gas emissions from using Facebook?” 
Google: “Facebook reports 51% of the electricity to run its servers is from renewable sources in 2017, the most recent data available.  Facebook’s nearest servers to New Zealand are in Singapore, however, whose power comes predominantly from burning natural gas.”
Me (under my breath): “Humm. Fossil fuel. She’s right”
“So Google, is looking at pictures on Facebook the worst thing I can be doing?”
Google: “No.  Video streaming uses much more electricity.  According to a recent Fortune Magazine article, the music video Despacito set a YouTube record by being viewed 5 billion times, using up as much electricity as 40,000 US homes use in a year.  This is estimated to have generated 367,000 tonnes of carbon emissions”
Me: “Crikey!  That’s a lot of emissions!  Now, how much energy was that? Let me see, if I remember my maths right, there are 365 days in a year and 24 hours in a day…
Google: “Relax Tom, I’ve got this! The average US home uses, on average, about one kilowatt of electricity continuously, so using these numbers I calculate each view of the music video uses about 70 watt-hours of electricity.”
Me: “So, what’s that?”
Google: “It’s the same as leaving a 70 watt light bulb on for an hour.  But the music video lasts only 4 minutes and 40 seconds, so streaming the video uses 900 watts of electrical power; close to that of running a microwave oven or a hair dryer.”
Me: “So, Google, if I watch the video now, where is it coming from?”
Google: “Google and YouTube’s nearest data centre is in Singapore.” 
Me: “Humm, natural gas again.”
Marg barges in: “So Google, how do we keep our emissions from the internet as low as possible?”
Google: “Firstly, stay away from Bitcoin.”
Me: “Bit-what?” 
Google: “Bitcoin. It’s an internet currency, like money, that doesn’t use the traditional banking system.  It uses a significant amount of energy to create or “mine” using large computers.  For this reason, authorities in China are clamping down on Bitcoin mining in Mongolia, which uses coal-fired electricity.” 
“Also, high definition (or HD) video uses lots of server and data transmission services, like the YouTube video.  Standard Definition (or SD) resolution uses about one-quarter the power of HD, so if you can, choose SD rather than HD. And, avoid websites with lots of non-essential video. In fact, any streaming service, such as music or podcasts, will use more energy than playing downloaded content.  So, download your music rather than steaming it.”
Marg: “What about artificial intelligence services, like Google Assistant?”
Google: “It’s true, my computations are energy intensive but Google is committed to using 100% renewable energy”
Marg: “When will that be?”
Google: “The Company hasn’t set a date yet.”
Marg: “Good night, Google.”
 
The author would like to acknowledge the significant contribution of Chris Cookson of Create IT, Blenheim, in providing the technical information used in this article.