GREENER DATA


TECHNOLOGY


environmental impact, housed in a data centre somewhere, fed by power, cooled by water. Film-maker Richard Bilton’s recent Panorama:


Is the Cloud Damaging the Planet? showed the example of the growing number of sprawling data centres in Ireland –huge concrete bunkers – which currently use 14 per cent of Ireland’s electricity and is predicted to use up to 30% by 2030. He also explored the diversion of water from the river Colorado needed to cool data centres in the US.


STREAMING AHEAD While cloud sounds ethereal, the most soft and fluffy thing about it is trying to pin down how much energy it’s using to host data and run data processes for consumers and for industry. Then there’s the energy cost of streaming. With


streaming video now estimated at over 70 per cent of all internet use, the TV industry is firmly in the frame. In 2022, The Carbon Trust, working with the media industry backed DIMPACT initiative, calculated the European average is 55g of CO2e for every hour of streaming video. According to the most recent Ofcom viewing figures, the UK SVOD audience travels the equivalent of eight million miles each day. As media companies increasingly look


to reduce carbon emissions, the greening of power is central to their efforts. Scope 2 carbon emissions are to do with indirect emissions from using electricity. Scope 3 expands the breadth of


emission reduction, taking it up and down the chain of supply. It’s not all about ESG, there


are operational and financial benefits too. Broadcasters and producers can stop money trickling away on growing power bills; streamlining the data pipeline can make content delivery smoother. “Right now, there’s a supreme lack of knowledge and information,” says Barbara Lange, founder of Kibo121, consulting on sustainability for media tech firms. “The best answer I can give is that sustainability is efficiency. You always want to operate in a more efficient fashion, it saves you money so why wouldn’t you do that?” Some media companies have gained B Corp


“RIGHT NOW THERE’S A SUPREME LACK OF KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION”


responsible business certification, including post houses Coffee + TV and Fifty Fifty. “We have introduced measures small and large to enable the reduction of our energy use,” says Alex Meade, Operational MD at Fifty Fifty. Digital imaging company Digital Orchard is another with B Corp status. “It has served to put our overall environmental impact firmly in the centre of what we do and decisions we take,” says MD Sam Margaritis.


FILE SIZE The increase in video quantity and quality has cranked the handle on energy consumption. As Lange puts it: “Data has an energy cost. An image


Spring 2023 televisual.com 99


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