Scope
The scope of this paper is to assess the impact of technical standards and regulatory interventions on the electricity consumption and CO2 emissions of video streaming in Europe until 2030 by modeling three scenarios (baseline, optimistic, pessimistic).
Summary
Madlener et al. quantify the impact that technical standards and regulatory interventions can have on the electricity needs and related CO2 emissions of end-users, network operators, and data centers regarding privately consumed video-streaming services in Europe until 2030. It investigates how four key parameters – the number of subscribers, energy efficiency of end-use devices, electricity intensity of data traffic, and resolution – impacts electricity consumption and CO2 emissions across three different scenarios.
The three scenarios are a baseline scenario, a grey (pessimistic) scenario, and a green scenario. The baseline scenario assumes a continuation of the recent trends regarding the energy efficiency of the end-user devices and the electricity intensity of components of the data traffic systems used for video-streaming. The grey (pessimistic) scenario assumes a constant CO2 emission trend, rather low energy efficiency improvements, and higher consumption compared to baseline scenario. Finally, the green (optimistic) scenario involves higher energy (electric) efficiency levels, lower emission rates due to increasing share of low-carbon energy sources, and more energy-efficient consumer behaviour. The three scenarios considered are built based on seven descriptors, including the number of subscribers/users, electricity efficiency (or intensity) of end user devices, networks, and data centers, share of renewables, streaming duration, and video resolution.
Key results from the analysis include the following. A variation in the energy efficiency of devices does not change electricity consumption across scenarios. However, the green scenario is more sensitive to energy efficiency. A similar pattern can be observed in the sensitivity analysis of the electricity intensity in the data traffic segment. However, the differences in variation within the grey scenario are higher than for the other scenarios. A sensitivity analysis of the resolution choices illustrates further that the green scenario is not as sensitive as other scenarios with regards to resolution variation. Although resolution reduction adjustments can mitigate the electricity consumption and CO2 emissions noticeably, adequately designed policies for each end-use device can help to augment the impact further. In addition to lowered resolution, device choice is an indispensable factor that can lead to substantial electricity savings and CO2 mitigation.
Regarding electricity consumption, reducing streaming hours of users and electricity efficiency improvement can lead to high electricity-saving potential. All scenarios highlight that the data traffic segment (network and data center) has a dominant share in video streaming, compared to devices. The results show that their share will increase noticeably in the future. As an illustration, in the green scenario, where electricity consumption does not increase as in the other scenarios, the share of electricity consumption attributed to data traffic increases from 59% in 2020 to 86% in 2030.
Relevance for EXIGENCE
Madlener et al.‘s paper provides evidence that device selection, in addition to lower video resolution, has an impact on carbon footprint reduction. This result, together with the conclusion that the expected gains depend on the energy efficiency of devices and the use of low carbon footprint energy sources, should be considered in the design of adaptive incentive schemes that take into account these factors.
- Madlener, S. Sheykhha, and W. Briglauer, ‘The electricity- and CO2-saving potentials offered by regulation of European video-streaming services’, Energy Policy, vol. 161, p. 112716, 2022.
