The Energy and Climate Change Impacts of Different Music Delivery Methods

The impacts of information and communication technologies (ICT) on the environment have been a rich area for research in recent years. ICT has substantially affected commerce, enabling new methods for connecting producers and consumers (i.e., e-commerce) and creating new electronic products. A prime example is the continuing rise of digital music delivery, which has obvious potential for reducing the energy and environmental impacts of producing and delivering music to final consumers. This study assesses the energy and CO 2 emissions associated with several alternative methods for delivering one album of music to a final customer, either via traditional retail or e-commerce sales of compact discs or via a digital download service. We analyze a set of six (3 compact disc and 3 digital download) scenarios of the delivery of one music album from the recording stage to the consumer's home in either CD or digital form. The scenarios were: 1) Album published on CD and delivered via traditional retail methods 2) Album published on CD and delivered by light-duty truck through an online e-tail provider 3) Album published on CD and delivered by express air through an online e-tail provider 4) Album downloaded as mp3/mp4 files from an online music service and used digitally 5) Album downloaded as mp3/mp4 files from an online music service and burned to CD-R for digital and CD use (no CD packaging) 6) Album downloaded as mp3/mp4 files from an online music service and burned to CD-R for digital and CD use, stored in individual CD packaging, i.e., slimline jewel cases Because it is now common for listeners to convert between CD and digital formats, via burning digital files to disc or ripping CDs to digital format, we do not specifically consider the consumer's use of the music. To attempt to make the truest comparison possible, we include scenarios where the consumer burns the digital files to CD and stores the CD in a jewel case. We find that despite the increased energy and emissions associated with Internet data flows, purchasing music digitally reduces the energy and carbon dioxide (CO 2) emissions associated with delivering music to customers by between 40 and 80% from the best-case physical CD delivery, depending on whether a customer then burns the files to CD or not (Figure ES-1). This reduction is due to the elimination of CDs, CD packaging, and the physical delivery of CDs to the household. Based …