DVDs are killing the environment...

[gabester]

I was reading this article tonight and had some doubts.

http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/9/5/054007/article

They don't seem to account for multiple viewings of DVD bringing down production & transport costs.
Nor how increasing resolution on streams increases processing energy and exponentially increases bandwidth costs.

They also have some strange thoughts like DVDs only last 3-5 years with 1 viewing per year. I've got DVDs I purchased in 1998 - not long after they were introduced - that still play JUST FIIINE.

In the end it seems that this study, funded by Uncle Sam, is playing to the content producers neverending quest to monetize every playback of their content.

Discuss!

[freeradical]

I'll wait for the Reader's Digest version of this article...

[artie67]

Or the Dilbert cartoon...

[N-OS X-tasy!]

OTOH, this is EXACTLY why the DivX disc format introduced at the same time as the DVD format was a horrible idea.

[Chakravartin]

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/05/...than-dvds/

All told, the study's estimates showed that streaming barely has a hold over DVDs bought and shipped in the mail and is actually beaten by DVDs rented by mail in terms of efficiency and CO2 emissions. When a customer goes to purchase DVDs from a store, however, the energy use per viewing hour is about 10 megajoules, a scant 2.5 megajoules per hour and 0.2 kilograms of CO2 per hour more than streaming. DVDs rented from a store were the worst offenders, using 4 megajoules and causing 0.3 kg more CO2 emissions per viewing hour, but good luck finding a store with DVDs these days to commit your emission and energy crimes in.

[deckeda]

As interesting as it may be to learn the impact of one type of entertainment usage, environmental concerns usually resonate better highlighting an end-result cost (DVDs in landfills for example) or "equivalent substitute" alternatives (personal transportation vs. commuting, for another example).

There are lifestyle aspects to all of it, but the abstract costs of renting/buying/streaming videos ranks right up there with considering the environmental impact of me driving to buy my own groceries vs. asking a neighbor to do it for both of us---won't happen.

[DP]

Also, I heard a story on NPR last week about bottled water. Regardless of recycling efforts, 6 out of 7 empty water bottles ends up in landfills. It takes the equivalent of three bottles of water to produce one bottle, it's per unit cost is stupid expensive, and most bottled water comes from city taps anyway. And even after changing the composition of the plastic, there is still a reaction to add chemicals to the water, especially if the bottle sits in the sun in a car and heats up, for example.

[OWC Jamie]

can't wait for them to study the environmental impacts of feeding a starving child next door

[Acer]

What is the environmental impact of a 100-million-dollar movie production?

[Wags]

What is the environmental impact of 2.1 billion obese people?