It started about three weeks ago when I read the article "The internet’s YouTube habit has the carbon footprint of a small city."
The following stuck in my head after reading it:
About a week later I saw David Attenborough saying the the world was going to end if carbon emissions aren't reduced.One common practice for users is to play a YouTube video just to access its audio. In their paper, which was presented at the annual ACM Computer-Human Interaction conference this week, the researchers show that YouTube’s carbon footprint could be meaningfully reduced if the company were to design a feature that would stop playing videos if they’re running in a browser tab that a user isn’t actively watching. If 25% of music videos are played in the background of a user’s browser, then YouTube could save 323,000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent. This conservative estimate saves about 3% of the total annual greenhouse gas emissions associated with watching videos, and is about the same as the carbon footprint of 50,000 cars over the course of a year.
I got to thinking about the above article and wondered if was a simple way to reduce the carbon emissions of YouTube. So I thought about it, and then thought about it some more
. Then a light-bulb pinged on above my head - I believe it can be easily achieved.I contacted the professor in the article and forwarded him the solution I have come up with. I have called it "conservative buffering", and the following is how I described it in the email to the professor:
I have had no reply to the email, and I'm left scratching my head. I know my description isn't perfect, but the concept is easily grasped when it is given a bit of thought.The following will allow YouTube to continue audio playback but stop downloading video when a different tab is selected:
[Note: the two second duration is a suggestion, not an absolute]
1a) When play is pressed audio and video data required for the first two seconds of playback are downloaded. When this data is downloaded the files are output.
1b) Whilst the initial two seconds of data is being output the next two seconds of A/V data is downloaded.
1c) When the output of the initial two seconds has completed the next two seconds of A/V data are output.
1d) Whilst this data is output the next two seconds of A/V data is downloaded.
1e) When the two second data output is completed the following two seconds of A/V data are output.
Repeat steps 1d and 1e whilst the browser tab showing the video is selected.
When a different browser tab is selected:
2a) Whilst the previous two seconds of data is being output the audio (and only the audio) for the next two seconds is downloaded.
2b) When the previous two seconds of data have completed output the two seconds of audio is output.
2c) Whilst this data is output the next two seconds of audio data is downloaded.
2d) When the two second data output is completed the following two seconds of audio data is output.
Repeat steps 2c and 2d whilst the video output tab is not selected.
When the video output tab is re-selected go back to step 1d.
Repeat until video output is complete.
This output method also reduces wasted data. If I stop a YouTube video that has been playing conventionally for a while then its 120 second buffer serves no purpose. If the same video is played with a conservative buffer of 2 seconds then the amount of wasted data will be no more than 4 seconds.
The entire resultant is a significant chunk off of YouTube's carbon footprint.
Will the above work?
If it will could someone find the time to modify mpv or Mplayer to use conservative buffering? When the player is maximized the audio and video is downloaded and output. When the player is minimized only the audio is downloaded and output.
Not only will it reduce the carbon footprint of YouTube, it will also benefit people like myself who have limited bandwidth (eg - podcasts can be played with the player minimized to reduce the bandwidth used).
I told you it was a strange request
.
