New Scientist - USA (2019-11-16)

16 November 2019 | New Scientist | 21

On 19 November, Google will

launch its Stadia streaming

service for video gaming over

the internet. Instead of having

to buy a computer or console to

play high-end games, people will

need only a Wi-Fi controller and

a dongle for their TV. The games

will run on servers in data centres.

Playing games typically

requires more power than

watching videos because of the

graphical processing required.

There are fears that streaming

gaming in this way could lead

to a jump in energy use and thus

in carbon dioxide emissions.

“I don’t think we know yet,”

says Chris Preist at the University

of Bristol, UK. If people play over

mobile networks – which will

become possible with 5G – it

will increase emissions, he says.

But it is more efficient to have

few machines running constantly

in data centres than lots of home

consoles on standby and getting

used occasionally. “If you buy

less equipment, it might actually

have a positive effect,” says Preist.

A new way to play

travel, how they heat their homes

and what they eat, says Preist.

Using the internet less makes

little difference in the short term

because most equipment uses the

same energy no matter how much

data flows through it – the data

centres are still running 24/7.

But reducing energy isn’t a

priority for most companies, says

Flucker – the focus of most data

centres is on performance and

reducing the risk of service

failures. They are slow to make

changes that reduce energy use

even though it saves them money.

For instance, Preist’s YouTube

study revealed that the company

could cut up to 500,000 tonnes

of CO 2 emissions a year at a stroke.

Many people stream YouTube

videos just to listen to the music,

so giving all users the option to

stream audio only would save

on all those wasted pixels.

YouTube didn’t respond when

asked if it plans to make changes.

For now, it seems the energy

demand and greenhouse gas

emissions from streaming videos

are set to keep rising. Something

to consider, as you click through

to the next episode. ❚

0 2000 4000 6000 8000

SOURCE: doi.org/ggbs3m

YouTube servers

International and

national network

Local network

User devices

Cellular mobile network

Estimated energy usage from watching videos on YouTube

Annual total energy consumption (GWh)

The Shift Project video report.

The Shift Project is calling

for what it calls “digital sobriety”.

That means individuals and

companies taking steps to limit

energy use, such as turning

off autoplay and watching at

lower resolutions.

However, many people aren’t

aware that streaming video is

a climate issue and Preist thinks

the onus should be on companies,

not individuals. “Your digital

carbon footprint is pretty small,”

he says. “The overall footprint

of digital is big globally because

unlike aviation there are literally

billions of us using it.”

People can do more to reduce

emissions by changing how they

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he says. “Buying renewable energy
credits and carbon offsets does
not really do much.”
A few firms, including Apple and
Google, are building additional
energy sources to compensate
for their energy usage. YouTube
was the only service in the video
streaming category to get an A
in the report, with Amazon Prime
a distant second with a C.
(Apple wasn’t rated in this
category but got an A overall.)
Yet such projects aren’t enough.
The planet will keep warming
even if we use renewable power to
stop emissions growing further.
It will only stop warming when net
emissions fall to zero. That is hard
to achieve if energy use is rising.
Globally, renewables aren’t
keeping up with energy demand.
“There is not enough of it at
the moment,” says Sophia Flucker
of Operational Intelligence, a UK
company that helps data centres
reduce energy use. We can’t keep
adding more data centres and
solar farms indefinitely, and
building solar and wind farms
still produces emissions, she says.
Mining materials for data servers
and disposing of old ones also
creates environmental problems.
That means we need to limit
demand. “There is no alternative
to questioning our usage if we
want to respect the commitments
of the Paris Agreement,” says
Maxime Efoui-Hess, author of

▲ Climate striking

Collins Dictionary has

named “climate strike”

word of the year, despite

it being two words.

▲ Mammoth find

The remains of 14 woolly

mammoths have been

found in human-built

traps north of Mexico City.

▲ Copper coins

Look after the pennies

and the pounds will look

after themselves. Two

million ancient copper

coins unearthed in China

are thought to be worth

around £100,000.

▼ Text messages

People in North America

have finally received

thousands of text

messages from Valentine’s

day after a telecoms

glitch. Now that’s a

romcom we would watch.

▼ Potted plants

A review of plants’ ability

to freshen indoor air has

found they have little

effect, so you can worry

less about that fiddle-leaf

fig you are struggling to

keep alive.

Working

hypothesis

Sorting the week’s

supernovae from

the absolute zeros

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