Episode 92
How Much Carbon Do You Emit from Your Online Activity?
Episode Summary: a conversation with Leekei and Olabanji on the environmental impact of computers, gaming and cryptocurrencies
Did you know that:
- One hour of playing Fortnite on PlayStation 5 consumes as much electricity as 40 LED bulbs per hour?
- One hour of watching Netflix consumes as much electricity as 14 LED bulbs per hour?
- Trading Bitcoin uses far more electricity than New Zealand and four times more than Google worldwide?
In this discussion, Leekei and Olabanji share some insights about the electric consumption of some of our online activities.
While there is little we can do to lower the carbon emission (besides lobbying the service provider to decarbonize) however we can still create an impact by:
- switching to a renewable source of energy in our homes and at work
- using Ecosia as our web search engine as for 1 tree is planted for every 45 searches
Go here to switch to Ecosia.org
For more information on the project and to order your copy of the Carbon Almanac, visit thecarbonalmanac.org
Want to join in the conversation?
Visit thecarbonalmanac.org/podcasts and send us a voice message on this episode or any other climate-related ideas and perspectives.
Don’t Take Our Word For It, Look It Up!
You can find out more on page 88 of the Carbon Almanac and on the website you can tap the footnotes link and type in 340
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Olabanji is from Lagos Nigeria, he’s a Creative Director and visual designer that helps brands gain clarity, deliver meaningful experiences and build tribes through Design & Strategy. He founded Jorney - a community designed to help people stay productive, accountable, and do their best work.
Leekei is a fashion business founder, a business coach, an international development expert and podcaster from Paris, France.
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The CarbonSessions Podcast is produced and edited by Leekei Tang, Steve Heatherington and Rob Slater.
Transcript
Hi, I'm Ima.
Speaker:I live in Scotland.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Jen and I'm from Canada.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Ola Vanji and I'm from Nigeria.
Speaker:Hello, I'm Leaky and I live in Paris.
Speaker:Hey, I'm Rod.
Speaker:I'm from Peru.
Speaker:Welcome to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with carbon conversations for every day with
Speaker:everyone from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:In our conversations, we share ideas, perspectives, questions, and things we
Speaker:can actually do to make a difference.
Speaker:So don't be shy enjoying our carbon sessions because it's not too late.
Speaker:Hi, I'm leaky.
Speaker:Hi.
Speaker:I am Ang.
Speaker:I want to ask you a question, Ji.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Are you a gamer?
Speaker:Do you play games on the computer?
Speaker:Uh, I used to be.
Speaker:Oh.
Speaker:But right now I'm not much of a gamer.
Speaker:I guess what just took over somehow.
Speaker:But I, but I enjoy playing games.
Speaker:which one?
Speaker:Which one was your favorite?
Speaker:Uh, I play fifa.
Speaker:I play crash as well.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Crash is a risk game.
Speaker:We'll just run it.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:I don't have the sta for the game that you used to play, , but I've
Speaker:just read in the Common Almanac something, again, very appalling that.
Speaker:You know, when you play game, you just think, okay, I'm not buying anything that
Speaker:is handmade, so I'm not, uh, polluting the environment, but this is not true.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Basically what is happening is that playing, online games, consume a
Speaker:lot of electricity, and the one that.
Speaker:Is really, uh, consuming love.
Speaker:Electricity is Fortnite on PlayStation five.
Speaker:I don't even know what is, but yeah, apparently a lot of people play
Speaker:this and apparently if you play one hour of Fortnite on PlayStation
Speaker:five, it's equivalent to 40 hours on lead bulbs, on for just one hour.
Speaker:This is crazy, isn't it?
Speaker:I know the kind of effort that goes into producing a game.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:It's, this is just playing the game.
Speaker:Oh, making the game is another thing because to make the
Speaker:game, you need super computers.
Speaker:there are computers designed to program for gamers.
Speaker:I mean, first you have to design the animation.
Speaker:They have to, you have to design the characters, the
Speaker:landscaping, the animation.
Speaker:There's a lot of work.
Speaker:Oh, goes into producing a game.
Speaker:Some games are produced by up to perhaps more than 300 people.
Speaker:Some are drawing, some are on maintenance, some are coding program.
Speaker:All that stuff takes a lot of effort.
Speaker:And a lot of computers.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:But then the game is played by, I don't know how many people play those games,
Speaker:but millions and millions and millions of people for hours and hours and hours.
Speaker:So those multiply, like this is just, yeah, just to throw it out there.
Speaker:Fortnite is a lot of fun and I'm just discovering that At cost.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Which is, I don't know.
Speaker:I don't think we can afford it.
Speaker:I mean, again, you know, as we were talking about, you can, uh, from
Speaker:a financial perspective, , a lot of people can afford it, but us
Speaker:as the planet, can we afford that?
Speaker:Yeah, that's the question.
Speaker:That's a million dollar question.
Speaker:That's the question right there.
Speaker:And that's just one, by the way, that's just Fortnite.
Speaker:There are games, and the reason is because Fortnite is one of the most
Speaker:popular games, I mean, Perhaps the most played, um, I dunno, but people
Speaker:play Fortnite on plays station.
Speaker:It's on Xbox.
Speaker:Um, everywhere.
Speaker:Fortnite is is just it's just a game of the moment.
Speaker:And then there are other games.
Speaker:There's Code of War, there's uh, pfa, there's, there's, there's Mortal Combat,
Speaker:there are all these other games Yes.
Speaker:That are heavy.
Speaker:They're so heavy.
Speaker:The size of the games are heavy.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:And then the games are played online.
Speaker:Actually, I think that's what makes Fortnite different because
Speaker:the game is, is played online.
Speaker:You can play with other people who connect to people.
Speaker:They, and there are many other games like that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So I think games generally and any, uh, well this is, yeah,
Speaker:because they run on online servers.
Speaker:They're so, all the servers are connected.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:They are.
Speaker:It, it's a thing.
Speaker:And then, you know, Netflixing as well.
Speaker:Oh yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's a thing.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So when you're netflixing and chilling, you're chilling.
Speaker:Let's see.
Speaker:On the damage that you, your concert, okay.
Speaker:Netflix is equivalent to 14 hours of lead bulbs on for one hour.
Speaker:So if you watch one hour of Netflix is like, you let your
Speaker:light bulb on for 14 hours.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, right there.
Speaker:14 hours.
Speaker:And, and that's hard to say no to, isn't it?
Speaker:Cause why not?
Speaker:Why not?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But you know what cons, I mean, what is even more staggering is the, yeah.
Speaker:You know, everything that is related to cryptocurrency.
Speaker:This is absolutely insane that that's, uh, we, we might have to record an
Speaker:entire episode of this podcast on that.
Speaker:Insane is probably an understatement.
Speaker:Yeah, this is, it's wild.
Speaker:It is absolutely wild.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For goodness sake.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But, you know, even those little things that we do like we do every single day,
Speaker:like, you know, we have a question, we go online and go on Google and Google it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:This is not, I mean, it's, it's, we just think it, oh, just, just go it.
Speaker:But in fact, Googling requires the use of a lot of electricity as well.
Speaker:If New Zealand and, and that, that was the comparison.
Speaker:I mean, did you see the statistics about New Zealand and Bitcoin and Google?
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Crazy stuff.
Speaker:Uh, so the entirety of New Zealand, um, consumes about 39.36 t w
Speaker:eight, and Google is about 15.14, which is, um, how many percent?
Speaker:That's probably like, uh, less than half.
Speaker:Less than half, like maybe 40%.
Speaker:Maybe 40.
Speaker:Uh, guess what Bitcoin is?
Speaker:Bitcoin 66.91.
Speaker:Whoa.
Speaker:So it's over.
Speaker:The Bitcoin network generates, um, now uses more electricity than New Zealand
Speaker:than the entirety of New Zealand.
Speaker:Almost twice the electricity than New Zealand uses because 39.36 and 66.91.
Speaker:That's pretty much.
Speaker:Almost twice.
Speaker:So basically we have Google, which uses 40% of, um, new New
Speaker:Zealand electricity and Bitcoin.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:More than like, uh, more than, uh, New Zealand use of electricity.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, that's it.
Speaker:What can we do about it?
Speaker:Well, I, okay.
Speaker:You, you are about to say, and so are you going to say something bad to add on it?
Speaker:Uh, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Let, please go ahead.
Speaker:Then.
Speaker:I hate to be the Bureau of Bad News, but yeah, I'll go for it.
Speaker:That's just Bitcoin.
Speaker:There's Ethereal, there's Dodge Coin, there's sand, there's Mama.
Speaker:There's.
Speaker:Um, there's all the, all the NFTs, there are all the NFTs, there are all the
Speaker:blockchain technologies that are using.
Speaker:I mean, the power usage usage is crazy.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Cause Cause it's just crazy.
Speaker:That's that's the word.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:For lack of words.
Speaker:It's crazy.
Speaker:Yes, it is.
Speaker:So you just think, okay, I'm just going to, and, and, and, and watch this now.
Speaker:Now this is the weird thing.
Speaker:This is, this is crazy because you finished an hour on Netflix.
Speaker:You probably go gaming for an hour and then you check what your
Speaker:cryptocurrency coins are like.
Speaker:You probably trade Bitcoin for some other thing or for
Speaker:dollars or for, for something.
Speaker:And you're doing all that in your computer.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:The computer itself been on for an hour is like having.
Speaker:60, uh, it's, it's 60 hours of the light bulb, just the computer.
Speaker:One hour of a desktop computer use.
Speaker:It's like 60 hours of a light bulb.
Speaker:And then on the computer you are playing Fortnite.
Speaker:Well, maybe not on the computer, but, but on the computer you're playing games too.
Speaker:Uh, and then you're netflixing on the computer.
Speaker:You are trading crypto on the computer.
Speaker:And so that, that's just.
Speaker:Multiplying the effect.
Speaker:it, it is multiplying the effect.
Speaker:So what can we do about it?
Speaker:What can we do about it?
Speaker:Because, uh, I mean, we, we need to do something.
Speaker:Uh, if I sit in front of my computer and press on buttons, I'm not creating
Speaker:any harm to anybody on this planet.
Speaker:But actually what you're telling me, what were learning now that it's.
Speaker:It's not harmless.
Speaker:Um, so what can we do?
Speaker:Yeah, , I think for me, the quickest way would be to switch
Speaker:to green sources of energy.
Speaker:Cause as humans we're creatures of habits.
Speaker:So we're used to doing many of these things.
Speaker:And if you ask an average person, do you want to stop?
Speaker:They'd say no.
Speaker:So what can we do?
Speaker:Is switch.
Speaker:I mean if you can't stop, then switch.
Speaker:Switch to green sources of energy.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And then get the guys that are in charge of this thing, the guys that created
Speaker:Fortnite and you know, the PlayStation, Xbox, let's get them to switch as well.
Speaker:because it's possible switch to green sources of energy.
Speaker:That way we can play Fortnite without the guilt of.
Speaker:Destroying the earth.
Speaker:You still want to play.
Speaker:Yeah, we wanna play, we just don't want it to hurt us or, or the earth.
Speaker:The process.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And if we can do that, why not?
Speaker:And I mean, it starts, first off, the quickest way right
Speaker:now is to reduce the play time.
Speaker:In the meantime, let's reduce play time.
Speaker:And, but in the long run, let's find.
Speaker:Other ways to do that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:But yeah, and as an individual, as a person, you know what I'm
Speaker:doing now that, because I'm very curious, so I have lots of questions.
Speaker:So I, I spend my time googling things, but I know that Google, um, I mean,
Speaker:um, search engine uses a lot of energy because, um, Because it goes on server.
Speaker:So I'm switched to another, um, another search engine, which is called eia.
Speaker:Have you heard about eia?
Speaker:Yeah, I use EIA now, and I, oh, I, I, I recently started using it.
Speaker:Hold on.
Speaker:I'm going to check how many trees are planted.
Speaker:Oh, oops.
Speaker:156 trees.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Be, because basically what they do is that, uh, when you use , you use eia.
Speaker:, yeah.
Speaker:Uh, they plant trees on your behalf.
Speaker:Isn't it core Oh, that's the coolest thing ever.
Speaker:Yeah, because what they do is that, um, they have the business model is, I
Speaker:guess it's quite similar to Google Ads.
Speaker:So they also have ads , on e Ecosia and, and because it's a nonprofit, it's not
Speaker:a for-profit company, so what they do is that they use the money to plum trees.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That is, so how many trees did you plant?
Speaker:156.
Speaker:Really?
Speaker:Wow.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, I can't be more proud of myself because, I mean, I'm using my computer
Speaker:now, but in the process I'm planting trees, so, well, let's say I'm offsetting
Speaker:something somewhere, um, or at least doing some good, which, which I enjoy.
Speaker:I enjoy that.
Speaker:It's, and there really is, everything on Google is on e Cozia, so why not?
Speaker:Just switch.
Speaker:Go to your browser.
Speaker:Download, I cozia.
Speaker:Go to set in.
Speaker:Click the search engine option and switch from Google to Cozia.
Speaker:That way, anytime you search, it's automatically cozier and you're planting
Speaker:trees without even moving the finger.
Speaker:Well by typing finger.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:Pleasant trees.
Speaker:I think, you know, if you go on, um, the carbon almanac.org is even
Speaker:easier because they have, , they have a place you can just click and
Speaker:just follow the instructions and then you can install EIA on your browser.
Speaker:So you can just go to the carbon almanac.org to do that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, just go ahead and do it.
Speaker:Do it right now if you listen.
Speaker:Cause it doesn't even take it just switch, switch, switch.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:If you can't stop, switch.
Speaker:I'm, I'm going to keep that one.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:If you can't stop, switch and change your habits.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Switch and change your habit.
Speaker:One step at a time.
Speaker:Just go slow, but do some.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay, cool.
Speaker:Thank you for this conversation, Benji.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:I enjoyed it.
Speaker:You've been listening to Carbon Sessions, a podcast with carbon
Speaker:conversations for every day with everyone from everywhere in the world.
Speaker:We'd love you to join the Carbon sessions so you too can share your
Speaker:perspectives from wherever you are.
Speaker:This is a great way for our community to learn from your ideas and
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Speaker:Go to the carbon almanac.org.
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