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Norion on 11 June 2026
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CaptainExplosion said:
SvennoJ said:

Gaming is still one of the most environmentally friendly pass times. The biggest factor is, you're not traveling to game. Going for a walk/hike is only 'better' if you start from your house. As soon as you drive / travel somewhere, it's worse than gaming...

As others have said, the electricity used for gaming is tiny, and if you game on Switch or a laptop, it's even less than watching TV. There are very few hobbies that produce less waste than gaming. 

Food, mobility, housing, consumer products all come before electricity used for leisure. 

Who uses most electricity: The industrial sector is the single largest consumer of electricity, accounting for roughly 42% of total consumption, while households (residential) account for about 27%, Commercial and public services consume 21%. (2019 figures)

So yeah you can make compromises, yet before blaming gaming, buy local food, produce less food waste, travel less, keep the house a bit warmer in summer / colder in winter, combine laundry, shorter showers, buy less stuff.

Gaming is the lowest polluter, yet AI data centers already make up a huge chunk of pollution.

Due to the AI boom, some forecasts (like from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory) suggest data centers could demand up to 12% of all US electricity by 2028.

12%! While gaming now is about 2-5% (use of electricity for gaming in the house) of 60% (households with consoles) of 27% (households use of electricity) = 0.32% - 0.81%. Stopping AI data centers is over 30x more effective than eliminating gaming...

Nobody with a brain wants the AI boom. Especially when AI vehicles are blocking fire fighters during emergencies. AI is literally killing people.

That happened in the US so did you know that today alone over 100 people will die from car accidents over there with thousands also being injured? Self driving vehicles already being overall safer than human drivers on average is an established fact. There are certainly issues to iron out but driving is undeniably an area where AI involvement is a massive positive so governments not being faster at allowing that is killing many more people.

Last edited by Norion - on 11 June 2026