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How Much Electricity Do Your Streaming Services Use?

Don’t sweat it.

We’re not going to shame you into stopping the usage of your streaming services entirely.

Instead, simply learn how streaming services affect your electricity usage. And learn what you can do to reduce their electricity usage if you’re concerned about how much they use.

First, understand how quickly streaming services can multiply and use a surprising amount of electricity.

Take a look at the full list of possibilities:

  1. Video game streaming services like Xbox Live and Playstation now
  2. TV streaming services like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Hulu, or any of the major TV networks’ own streaming services
  3. Music streaming such as Spotify, SoundCloud, and Amazon Music
  4. Audiobook streaming such as Kindle Unlimited
  5. Home security cameras
  6. Cameras in your home to monitor kids and pets

Whew! That’s quite a list.

How many of those do you use in your own home?

What Factors Cause High Electricity Use from Streaming Services?

So, what precisely causes more electricity use. Here’s a list, beginning with the largest reason for higher electricity use:

1. Standby Power

While devices are designed for energy efficiency today, standby mode is the silent killer of energy efficiency.

For example, connecting smart speakers to your television causes its electricity usage to more than double during the course of a year!

Standby power from other devices may not consume quite so much. But it does have a similar effect.

When you’re done with a device, simply turn it off. Consider plugging as many devices as you can into a smart power strip so you can turn them all off with the press of one button.

2. Device Displaying the Streaming Media

Smart TVs are built with streaming services in mind. Simply by their very construction, they save 25% electricity versus traditional TVs.

3. How Much Data You Stream Each Month

An early 2019 study found the average household uses about 268.7 GB of data per month. The percentage of households using 1 TB or more grew from 2.11% in 2017 to 4.12% in 2018.

That’s almost double.

Some ISPs, like Comcast, charge additional fees when you exceed 1 TB in a month.

4. Quality of the Streamed Media

If you watch something in 4K or listen to it in HD sound quality, that uses a lot more electricity.

5. Number of Devices

Growing family? That increases your streaming media usage too.

Besides turning off streaming media when not in use, also consider creating usage limits for children.

Not only does that save you money and electricity, but it’s healthy for your kids to have their minds in the real world rather than digital screens all the time.

And join in with your kids too. Monitor your own usage and limit it. Movies, TV, video games, and music are exciting. But there’s lots of fun you can have in the real world too!

Streaming services can be a hidden electricity consumer.

Hopefully this post helped you understand how your streaming services may affect you and what you can do about them.

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