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Infographic: Australia’s Digital Carbon Footprint

In July 2019, Luminary was certified carbon neutral. This infographic highlights why we decided to offset our carbon impact.

Kate Gordes

19 July 2019

2 minute read

The environmental impact of activities like air travel, mining and deforestation have long occupied the headlines on climate change. But did you know that every time you send an email or live-stream your favourite show on Netflix, you’re also producing carbon emissions? Even a paltry little Google search produces carbon.

When you add it all up, the scale of our digital carbon footprint is actually quite astounding. 

For example, Australians now watch an average of 13.5 hours of streamed content per week. In carbon emission terms, this is roughly equivalent to a flight between Melbourne and Sydney per person – Every. Single. Week.

Take a moment to let that sink in… Pretty mind-blowing, huh? 

We thought so too, which is why we decided to investigate the true impact of Australia’s digital carbon footprint. The result was this infographic. 

Even though we've recently been through a carbon emissions audit, and were aware of the environmental impact of digital, the findings still made our jaws drop. If you feel the same, please use the little blue buttons below to share this message far and wide. The more awareness we can raise about this issue, the better our chances of tackling it, and the better off our environment will be!

Infographic - Australia's Digital Footprint

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Australia's Digital Carbon Footprint

The big picture

  1. If the internet was a country, it would be the 6th largest polluter in the world. 
  2. The internet accounts for more than 10% of global electricity consumption.
  3. An estimated 3.9 billion people use the internet. 
  4. 21.18 million of these are in Australia. That’s 88% of our population.   

Our data use

  1. Australians are downloading about 1.3 million terabytes of data per month. 
  2. To put that into perspective, It would take 728,177 floppy disks or 1498 CD-ROM discs to store just 1 TB worth of information. 
  3. Our data use is soaring, and the biggest driver of this change has been video streaming. 
  4. Australians are now watching 13.5 hours of streamed content in an average week. In CO2   terms, this averages out at roughly one flight between Melbourne and Sydney per person each week.
  5. Over 26 billion devices are currently connected to the internet. This to expected to grow to 75 billion by 2025.
  6. The average Aussie home has 17 connected devices.

Google searches

  1. One Google search accounts for an estimated 0.2 to 7 grams of carbon dioxide emissions.  7 grams is equivalent to…boiling a pot of tea, or driving a car 16 metres
  2. In CO2  terms, a year of Google searches equals 1,785,720,000 kilometres driven in a car.  
  3. Australians spend over 550 million hours a year googling. 

Websites

  1. An average sized website will emit 2131.884 kg of CO2 in a year. That is equivalent to consuming 908 litres of petrol.
  2. Viewing a simple web page generates about 20 milligrams of carbon dioxide per second.
  3. Australians spend an average of 5 hours and 34 minutes a day on the internet.


References:

  1. sustainablewebmanifesto.com 
  2. webneutralproject.com/the-problem.html
  3. statista.com/statistics/273018/number-of-internet-users-worldwide
  4. statista.com/topics/5261/internet-usage-in-australia
  5. abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/8153.0 
  6. lifewire.com/terabytes-gigabytes-amp-petabytes-how-big-are-they-4125169
  7. businessinsider.com.au/australian-broadband-usage-telstra-2018-9
  8. deloitte.com/au/en/pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/media-consumer-survey.html
  9. www.statista.com/statistics/471264/iot-number-of-connected-devices-worldwide/
  10. smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/the-average-aussie-home-has-27-connected-devices-here-s-why-that-s-growing-20181012-p509bw.html
  11. custommade.com/blog/carbon-footprint-of-internet
  12. myhappyfootprint.com/carbon-footprint-internet
  13. roymorgan.com/findings/6743-google-dominates-bing-and-yahoo-as-top-australian-search-website-december-2015-201604050438
  14. webneutralproject.com
  15. webneutralproject.com/the-problem.html
  16. wearesocial.com/au/blog/2018/02/2018-digital-report-australia 


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