In view of our impact on the environment, should we prefer an e-reader or a good old book? A DVD or a film viewed in streaming? To help us make the right choices, Ademe published, on Thursday 17 November, a first large-scale study (1) relating to four “cultural services” among the most common – reading a book, listening to music, watching a movie, and playing a video game – and compared their “physical” and “digital” versions.
The study took into account all stages of the service’s life cycle – manufacturing, use, end of life – and assessed its impact on various environmental criteria (GHG emissions, mobilization of resources, air pollution, etc.). Ultimately, the study does not give a black and white conclusion. “This study does not allow an overall conclusion that digital cultural services are better than their physical alternatives, underlines the Ademe. The environmental impact of a cultural service, whether digital or physical, depends in part on the intensity of use that will be made of it. »
To choose the least harmful behavior for the environment, the amateur-consumer must therefore consider the use he intends to make of the coveted cultural good. Listening to music with a CD has a greater environmental impact (over its entire life cycle) compared to digital formats, but this will lessen as you listen. This is also the case for DVDs, even if these are globally less reused than CDs. The study is however categorical on the fact that“buying a CD or DVD for a single viewing is not relevant from an environmental point of view”.
Readers reserved for very heavy readers
The Ademe study will delight book lovers. Among the cultural practices studied, reading a book – here a 300-page hard copy novel – has the lowest environmental impact on all the indicators taken into account (resources, CO2 emissions, etc.). If we compare the reader to reading a new paper book (single use), the carbon impact of the reader is, according to Ademe, amortized after 50 books read. In the case of books reused or purchased second-hand, the impact is amortized after 100 books read. On the other hand, the impact of the reader on the resources necessary for its manufacture is only amortized from 210 books read.
For music, the study shows that “listening to streaming music can be superior to listening to a CD when equipment such as speakers or hi-fi equipment is used”. She also recommends viewing streaming videos on “small screens (who) are the least impactful, and reduce the resolution.
Slow down equipment renewals
Overall, the agency warns that digitization has caused an explosion in the consumption of cultural services, “formerly controlled by physical media”. She points out that video streaming will soon account for 80% of global web traffic. With the risk of a headlong rush, in terms of intensity of use and permanent renewal of equipment. When watching a film or a video game, the equipment (TV, TV box and console for the video game), represent respectively more than 60% and 80% of the environmental impacts. Unsurprisingly, Ademe recommends “limit the number of equipment purchased for a service and extend their lifespan as much as possible”.
Finally, in terms of good practices, Ademe recommends downloading musical and visual content during off-peak hours, deactivating the video when you simply want to listen to music, downloading musical titles rather than streaming them each listening, to adapt the resolution of the video viewed to the equipment to limit its weight, to favor the use of wi-fi over mobile networks whose infrastructures consume more electricity.
The fact remains that the real good attitude is to consume culture responsibly, avoiding overconsumption and waste: carefully choose your books, CDs, DVDs and equipment (readers, speakers, hi-fi system, etc.) to use them many times, before giving them away or reselling them to increase their life cycle.