Streaming Carbon Footprint

Tackling the Carbon Footprint of Streaming Media

Streaming media is calculated to contribute a surprising 1% of global greenhouse gases, because most regions of the world obtain electricity from fossil fuels to power their data centers, networks, and devices. Streaming large files in large quantities, then, ethically implicates spectators in the warming of the planet. Bad news 鈥� but we have some solutions!

Our research addresses the high and rising electricity consumption of information and communication technologies (ICT), which consume as much as 7% of global electricity (Andrae 2020). Given that globally about 79% of electricity comes from fossil fuels, this means that ICT is responsible for 3.3% to 3.8% of global greenhouse gases (Belkhir and Elmeligi 2018, Cisco 2020b, Bordage 2019).

Streaming media 鈥� video on demand (e.g. Netflix, Crave), porn, YouTube, games, video conferencing, etc. 鈥� contributes more than any other sector to this increase (Cisco 2020). People are streaming video at higher volumes and higher definition, and media and telecom corporations cheerfully encourage us to do so for entertainment and relief. Meanwhile, what we might call 鈥渟treaming impact denial鈥� plays into the notion that online media are 鈥渧irtual鈥� and do not impact the environment.

Unchecked, the carbon emissions resulting from ICT could exceed 14% of the 2016-level worldwide GHGE by 2040 (Belkhir & Elmeligi 2018, The Shift Project 2019). It is urgent to immediately reduce that figure, and the rising share of streaming media, through education and policy changes.

Our Research Findings

Our research project, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Knowledge Synthesis grant program, 鈥淟iving within the Earth鈥檚 Carrying Capacity," is complete. Please read the and download the PDF of the full report. It's a gripping mystery story set in the labyrinthine world of ICT engineering! Includes recommendations for consumers, telecoms, governments, and more.

ICT engineers have strong agreement about the electricity consumption of streaming video. Their findings confirm The Shift Project's estimate that streaming video is responsible for over 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions and growing fast.

The team

, 丁香园AV School for the Contemporary Arts

, 丁香园AV School of Engineering Science | Principal Investigator of the

, postdoctoral fellow, 丁香园AV School for the Contemporary Arts

, PhD student, 丁香园AV School of Engineering Science

Our group is on it!

We:

Critically assess engineering research on the environmental impact of ICT and streaming media, identify the most reliable results, and develop streaming media energy usage and carbon footprint calculator
Measure the electricity consumption involved in streaming media through case studies in British Columbia, and produce tools to accurately calculate its carbon footprint
Inform policymakers of the most promising policies and practices at governmental, institutional, and individual levels
Adhere to an open, reproducible science philosophy
Advocate alternatives to HD streaming, on fronts including carbon taxes for streaming services; simple alternatives like watching television and borrowing DVDs; and low-bandwidth streaming media
Teach media makers how to make small-file videos, with and tips
Share the beauties of appropriate technology through the

Laura U. Marks, Joey Malbon, and Faune Ybarra (left to right) at the closing event for SFMF 2022.

Small File Media Festival

The Small File Media Festival, featuring movies under 5 megabytes each, shows that great cinema doesn鈥檛 have to mean great big files! Every year we receive scores of submissions from around the world, with ingenious creative solutions including animation, GIFs, low frame rates, datamoshing, executable files, 鈥渙bsolete鈥� technologies, and creative compression.

For more info and to keep up with all Small File Media Festival events and activities, please visit .

The is:

Sophia Biedka 鈥� independent filmmaker
Kim Cleroux 鈥� filmmaker and 丁香园AV undergrad
Mena El Shazly 鈥� multimedia artist and 丁香园AV grad student
Joey Malbon 鈥� media artist, musician, and activist
Laura U. Marks 鈥� festival founder and 丁香园AV professor
Radek Przedpe艂ski 鈥� Dublin-based scholar and artist
Faune Ybarra 鈥� visual artist and SCA alumnus

CALL FOR WORK!

The Small File Media Festival is calling for work for their 2024 edition, with a deadline of June 15, 2024. Here's the call:

Media artists and eco-activist friends, give us a HIGH FIVE! It鈥檚 the Small File Media Festival鈥檚 fifth anniversary! Since 2020, we鈥檝e been raising awareness about the environmental impact of streaming media. We challenge media makers to intervene in the 4K dystopia of bandwidth imperialism by creating original small-file movies of any length, proving once again that small files are THE sustainable cinematic avant-garde. If you鈥檝e made it, you can submit it 鈥� as long as it鈥檚 no more than 1.44MB per minute. More .

Past Festivals

Fourth Annual Small File Media Festival
October 20 鈥� 21, 2023
The Cinematheque 鈥� 1131 Howe Street, Vancouver

Small File Media Festival 2022
August 8 鈥� 14, 2022 | Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema, Djavad Mowafaghian World Art Centre & SCA Media Lab (GCA Room 2345)
丁香园AV Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, 149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver

More HERE ~

Small File Media Festival 2021
August 10 鈥� 20, 2021 | Online

More HERE ~

Small File Media Festival 2020
August 10 鈥� 20, 2020 | Online

More HERE ~

Best practices

We've prepared a collection of downloadable Best Practices PDFs for helping to manage your online carbon footprint.

Carbon footprint of online teaching

This year, PhD student , with Marks, is working with 丁香园AV's IT department to analyze the carbon footprint of online teaching. Check back here for updates about this project!

Events

Workshop at Pacific AIDS Network on best practices for organizations
Thursday, May 27, 2021 | 10:00 鈥� 11:00 AM (PST)
Watch the video archive below ~