250 emails sent per week is equivalent to 7 kilometers by car per year, 10 hours of streaming per week represents more than 2 meals with beef per year and 15 hours of videoconferencing is comparable to 1 t-shirt. These are comparisons that at first glance are eccentric, but which allow us to understand digital pollution a little better.
Ademe, the ecological transition agency, has developed the impactco2.fr website to calculate your digital carbon footprint. All you have to do is enter the number of emails sent per week and the hours of streaming and videoconferences for the site to calculate the equivalent in CO2 emissions per year. We also note that the carbon footprint is often doubled when digital consumption is carried out via 4G rather than wifi.
The site is fun, but above all informative, also makes it easier to understand what digital pollution is, and provides access to useful information. Each individual can then better realize the ecological impact of the technology that surrounds them. For example, we learn that in terms of CO2 emissions, building a television is equivalent to building three laptops.
A point also raised by Martin Regner, in charge of the Datagir service of Ademe, on BFM Tech&Co: “the construction of an electronic device is much more polluting than its use”. He pursues : “The figures are based on data from Ademe. The challenge through this tool is to convey the right messages, so that the citizen can have a benchmark presented in an educational way“