We are celebrating World Environment Day on June 5. The perfect opportunity to question our digital uses. For the record, digital is responsible for 4% of CO2 emissions in the world, an environmental cost likely to double in volume by 2025 according to the think tank The Shift Project.
To make us aware of eco-gestures, Ademe, the energy transition agency, offers an online simulator to measure our carbon footprint according to the number of emails sent, the time spent watching streaming videos and the number of hours spent in videoconference.
Beyond this quick test, the Ademe demolishes, on its site, a certain number of received ideas about our domestic digital practices. For example, reading a 300-page novel on an e-reader or tablet represents a carbon footprint nearly ten times greater than the paper version.
Downloading a book (approximately 3MB) weighs little on the environmental balance with regard to the carbon weight of the manufacture of a terminal and its end-of-life treatment. A reader is therefore reserved for heavy readers. It is only from 50 books that each work has a lower carbon impact than the new paper format.
Extend the life of equipment
As for the debate between CDs and DVDs, their dematerialized equivalents – streaming audio and online video – the debate is less clear-cut. Physical media have a real environmental impact, but this decreases over time. CDs and DVDs are therefore of interest for albums and films that will be listened to or viewed regularly. Once we are tired of them, they will be given away or resold to give them a second life.
As with reading, their digital equivalents are weighed down by the environmental debt linked to the manufacture of the equipment used. More than three-quarters of the environmental impacts of a smartphone are linked to its design, recall Ademe and Arcep, the telecoms regulatory authority.
A dedicated site gives some advice on how to extend the life of our terminals by offering an online diagnostic tool or by recalling what the repairability index covers. A practical guide is aimed more particularly at owners of smartphones.
The multitude of terminals used – TV, laptop or desktop computer, smartphone, connected speaker, Hi-Fi system – only adds to the bill. Their number should be reduced by favoring devices with the lowest carbon footprint (see graph). To reduce their energy consumption, choose Wi-Fi or an Ethernet connection over 4G/5G and deactivate unnecessary features (geolocation, Bluetooth, etc.).
The government agency also advises downloading favorite music tracks (3% less impact) and lowering the resolution for online video. Depending on the settings, the impact of smartphone streaming varies between 26 and 83 g of CO2eq per hour. which is not neutral. It is also advisable to choose the platforms dedicated to each use. The music can be listened to, for example, on Spotify or Deezer and not on YouTube.
Eco-friendly video games
And how to play video games in the most eco-responsible way possible? Downloading a game to your console or computer will have a lower impact. On the other hand, the physical format (hard disk, CD, DVD) is to be preferred for games that offer a very long playing time. It is even better if it is used games.
What about cloud gaming? Booming, this practice consists of deporting the computing power needed to run a video game in a data center rather than at the user’s. It may be less impactful if the game only lasts a few hours. The tipping point is 1.5 hours for a light game (6 GB) and less than 6 hours for a large game (77 GB).
Last advice on the path to energy sobriety: turn off your internet box, your decoder or your television in the event of prolonged absence.
