Physical Games Discs: Environment friendlier than the digital downloads

Physical Discs Of Games Are Environment Friendlier

Physical Discs Of Games Are Environment Friendlier Than The Digital Downloads A common conjecture of the contemporary era is that the world can become a less polluted place if we switch to digital downloads, by decreasing the number of physical objects and their complimentary factories. However, a recent study concluded as though the elimination of physical objects might decrease the future pollution level, but going for digitalization is not the best solution to this problem. A fact is, carbon footprint that we get from games downloading is far greater than buying a mere physical copy.

The study was published in Journal of Industrial Ecology, which focused on carbon footprints by games distribution. To narrow down the research, it particularly focused on PlayStation 3 8.8GB game, employing a usual UK production and distribution cycle metrics. The research compared both physical and digital forms for carbon footprints. Surprisingly, the carbon emission of a retail disc was significantly lesser than that of a downloaded game.

The carbon emission from a physical disc of PS3 was recorded to be 20.81, while that from an equivalent game download was 27.54 kilograms. The main factors that contribute to carbon footprints in digital download are electricity used to download, the power used in delivering the content, and also the power used in creating the digital file.

The study conducted considers future, but still it is quite early to say on the increase or decrease of the carbon emission levels for digital games in the near future. If talking about theory, the carbon emission from digital download will reduce significantly due to the advancement of internet technology.

However, what makes this theory doubtful is that the game sizes increase quite a lot, and thus it would be difficult to know whether the internet speed will increase to a level where it lessens the downloading time of huge game files. There are other factors too that will play an important role in controlling of carbon footprint in the digital game industry, such as remote downloading while you are commuting or using usual computer console while the game downloads in the background.

The ardent game fans that are very environment friendly, should consider the carbon footprints that are produced when downloading games. They most likely should stick to the physical store purchases as for now. As for the others, they are very much welcomed to download their games from the web but also keep in mind the overall impact that this would have on the environment.

Related Study: http://www.researchomatic.com/Carbon-Footprint-107892.html