Researchers from the University of Michigan calculated the environmental impact of virtual conferences, which have largely replaced in person conferences due to the pandemic. While initially it appeared that virtual conferences would reduce impacts, the events do come with environmental costs of their own. During their research, the team conducted a case study on a May 2020 virtual conference held by AirMiners carbon removal networking community.

A framework was developed for analyzing and tallying carbon emissions of the online conference based on a variety of factors. The two biggest environmental impacts of virtual conferences are the cost of internet connectivity and the use of video conferencing.Source: Unsplash

The team's system for gauging energy usage from virtual conferences focused on a few parameters. Life cycle emissions, network data transfer, server energy usage, monitor energy usage, room lighting, the number of additional online meetings needed in conference planning and emissions from conference-related website visits were measured.

Computer and monitor emissions were estimated by tallying the total life cycle emissions based on the number of hours the devices were used. Emissions from network data transfers and server use were calculated with the energy consumption used during a conference.

The team says that the industry could improve the energy efficiency of the hardware and software involved in conferencing. Programs such as Zoom may be able to decrease the data rates while preserving quality with a simple server and software update. Network infrastructure and data centers with renewable energy can reduce emissions while also powering computers. Researchers also say that skipping gallery view, disabling HD video and repairing instead of replacing computers to extend their useful lifetimes are other ways that emissions could be lowered.

This study was published in the International Journal of Environmental Studies.