UK study compares energy use of digital services with physical alternatives

A study by Europe Economics, commissioned by the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, has developed a methodology to estimate the electricity consumption of digital services against physical equivalents.

The research assesses energy use across the full delivery chain. For digital services, this includes data centres, transmission networks, and end-user devices. For physical alternatives, it covers manufacturing, transport, retail, office delivery, and end-user devices. Unlike earlier studies that examined only specific components or carbon emissions, the analysis compares entire systems.

The report reviewed three cases: video streaming versus Blu-ray discs, eBook reading versus printed books, and AI-based translation versus human translation. Under low, medium, and high energy-use assumptions, digital services were found to consume either comparable or lower energy than physical options.

The study isolates the energy use of each service itself, excluding wider economic effects from digitalisation such as higher demand or labour reallocation.