Since the Covid-19 pandemic, online video streaming for work has become increasingly popular. Since the conclusion of the pandemic, the popularity of Zoom and video conferences has continued steadily on, bringing with it the bonus of carbon reductions for travel to meetings. While Zoom meetings do typically mean less carbon emissions from people driving or flying to meet with coworkers, video conferencing is not completely free of carbon cost. 

A 2021 study by Purdue University found that one hour of video conferencing produced anywhere from 150-1,000 grams of CO2 per hour. In comparison, the average mid-size car burns about 400-500 grams of CO2 per mile of driving. Conservatively calculated, this means that if you drive more than 5 miles for an in-person meeting, it’s typically more beneficial to participate in a Zoom call. While these numbers indicate that it is still most environmentally friendly to participate in Zoom meetings for conferences that require travel, they do indicate that the carbon and energy savings from unnecessary Zoom meetings leave something to consider. 

This same study found that turning off your camera during conference meetings could reduce the energy consumption of the call by up to 96%. “Turning off your camera” requires no special action when setting up the Zoom call. The energy consumption rates will decrease according to how many participants have their cameras turned off. If all participants have their cameras off, the call will stream via audio only–similar to a phone call–putting less strain on data centers. 

Researchers also estimated that streaming in regular definition, rather than high definition, reduced energy consumption by up to 85%. This estimation holds true not only for video streaming from Zoom, but also Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, and all other forms of active video streaming.  

In addition to energy consumption, streaming services also consume a significant amount of water. The data centers that process streaming services use water to cool processing rooms. Increased strain on these data centers means more heat generation, and thus more water required for the cooling process. If possible, turning off your camera during meetings and encouraging co-workers to do the same is a great way to reduce your personal and professional ecological footprint! 

By Mia Moore