Netflix Used Enough Energy in 2019 to Power 40,000 Homes

BY Josiah HughesPublished Feb 7, 2020

Netflix is, apparently, giving itself plenty of bad press today, as the streamer reveals its own secrets through the 2019 Environmental Social Governance report. After sharing all of the times it self-censored following takedown requests from foreign governments, the company has now opened up about just how much power it used.

Yes, you may not be forcing companies to waste plastic on DVDs anymore, but your use of the streaming service is having a massive impact on power consumption. In 2019 alone, Netflix used 451,000 megawatt-hours of energy consumption. To put that in perspective, they could've powered 40,000 American homes for an entire year with that usage.

The energy use was split in two, defined by electricity the company uses itself and the power needed to blast out The Goop Lab to streaming devices around the globe. The first category racked up 94,000 megawatt-hours, while the second clocked in around 357,000 megawatt-hours.

That said, the company claims that all of its power consumption was "matched with renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets in 2019."

Most surprising, Netflix's energy usage was up a whopping 84 percent from 2018, when it only used 245,000 megawatt-hours. The streaming company grew its subscriber base by 20 per cent in the last year, meaning the energy usage was not just tied to user growth.

Read the full Netflix report here

Latest Coverage