Online Meetings

Do you remember when we had in-person meetings like, all the time? As a remote-first company, Marit Digital does most of its work at home, and most of its meetings online. So you can imagine that the impact of our video conferencing platform is one that we need to pay attention to.

The environmental impact of IRL

There is definitely a time and a place for meeting in-person. Sometimes that is the right choice for the people and/or the content involved. But we should acknowledge there are costs – monetary, human, and environmental – to being there.

Video conferencing is almost always less environmentally-impactful, but there are also some platforms that do a better job than others. Like most tools, the priorities of the company determine the impact. That said, video conferencing has unique opportunities for fine-tuned control.

Let’s compare

To keep it simple, we can look at the “Big 3” video conferencing platforms: Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom. 

Starting out of the box, Google Meet wins, but you may not be happy about it. Being browser-native allows Meet to be more efficient versus requiring a separate software download. It also defaults to a lower resolution, so while the video experience may improve based on your network, it starts with less impact.

For some, this low quality will drive them away from the platform immediately and into Zoom. With the highest default video and audio fidelity, Zoom is ensuring a quality experience, but one that is less efficient out-of-the box than the competition.

Microsoft Teams works well when kept to the browser, but the underlying Teams software is notoriously sluggish so it may slow local processing or require extra power to run.

Mitigating conferencing impacts

Good news, everyone! There’s a lot you can do to improve the impact of your virtual meetings, regardless of what platform you’re on. *References at the bottom of this post.

Turn off video – This is not always the right answer, but it unquestioningly improves efficiency. When you can leave your video off, even just for parts of the meeting, it’s worthwhile. 
All major video conferencing platforms also have the ability for you to turn off all incoming video. This will still allow your video to work, if you choose to share, but will hide the videos of all other participants, regardless of their video settings.

Disable HD – All major platforms will let you set the quality of your audio and video. Obviously, lower quality is usually less impactful, but every company should be tuning this to their preferred level of impact. Google Workspace and Microsoft platforms should have admin configurations to set caps on streaming resolutions.

Keep it real – Guess what? Your fake background is increasing energy consumption by 25%+. Tools like “Touch up my appearance” also requires extra CPU cycles. And there’s evidence that animated or blurred backgrounds can distract or create cognitive load for viewers.

Share screens wisely – Sharing your screen – like changing your background – requires more energy, so avoid it when you can. But the other trick here is to share the least screen real estate possible. More pixels shared from your screen is more to transmit, so try to share specific windows or tabs instead of your whole screen.

Get on wifi – Joining a call on a cellular network can use 10-50x more electricity than a wifi, fiber-based connection. That’s a lot.

The takeaways

Like so many other business decisions, your video conferencing has more options and impacts than you realize. Consider taking some time to evaluate your mail and calendaring platform or conferencing tool of choice for a deeper dive on their options. 

For us, this newsletter topic came up as we recently made the switch from Zoom to Google Meet for our default meeting tool. If this is a topic you have more questions about, or if you need support for your mail and calendaring administration, please reach out!

Summer Schedule

Did you know that Jen works at the Coven Cary providing Open Office hours each month? Bring your tech troubles and swing by to noodle through the latest AI process challenge or email config. No charge!
Check in June 18, July 16, or August 20 for help. 

Have you scheduled your Annual Review?
Marit Digital maintenance and hosting clients have an annual review of their website(s) and/or productivity platform (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365) every year. If you haven’t scheduled yours, use the link below. And if you have a site or service that needs a review, get in touch!

*Video conferencing references:

– Greenspector: The impact of our videoconferencing uses on mobile and PC

– Assessing the Carbon Footprint of Virtual Meetings: A Quantitative Analysis of Camera Usage

– Do You Have the Energy for This Meeting?

– How much data does Zoom use per hour (and how to reduce it)?

– The Internet’s Invisible Carbon Footprint