Digital signage has long been considered the future of advertising. The idea and technology opens doors to new and inventive ways of selling products. This can be seen with the growing number of electronic advertisements that have been appearing in cities across the world.
In the U.K., for example, new forms of advertising are apparent on bus stops, at town centres and within shopping complexes. These locales play host to electronic advertisements.
While this approach to advertising is powerful, the environmental cost has not yet been fully realised.
In France, a forthcoming decree will ban all illuminated advertising between the hours of 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. in an effort to reduce the devices’ substantial carbon footprint. It has been suggested that similar legislative measures could be employed across Europe.
With that thought in mind, branding and print operators Solopress have explained to Digital Journal about the real cost of digital advertising, and the potential long-term implications of their usage.
For example, according to AdBlock Bristol, one digital advertising screen in Bristol City Centre used the same amount of electricity as four households over the course of a year. Taking another environmental statistic, a paper on digital signage and its energy consumption found that a 14’ x 48’ LED billboard has between 900 and 10,000 diodes, requiring more energy than the traditional bulbs used to illuminate printed posters and signage.
Other areas of concern include global light pollution, which is increasing at a rate of 6 percent per year across Europe and the U.S. Hence, 88 percent of Europe experiences ‘perpetual twilight’ as a result of light pollution obscuring the night sky. Researchers believe that light pollution not only dims the night sky, but also affects human health and animal behaviours.
With digital signage increasingly appearing, concerns are also growing about the electricity required to power the signs. AdBlock Bristol found that one double-sided digital advert screen in Central Bristol required more electricity to power for a full year than the equivalent electricity usage of four homes. The digital adverts in question run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for a total of 16,819kWh.
Often, proponents of digital signage quote the green characteristics of the LED bulbs used, particularly when compared to the inefficient traditional lamps used to illuminate static signage at night. However, a 14’ x 48’ LED sign can have between 900 and 10,000 diodes, which in turn may require dedicated air conditioning to ensure consistent performance.
With that said, there are measures that digital signage users can take to reduce their energy consumption. For instance, screens with an Energy Star are 18 percent more efficient than those without. Despite this, the fact remains that traditional posters and print advertising are far more carbon-friendly than their digital counterparts.
One of the key arguments for moving away from traditional printed display adverts is the cost of production. With many corporations advocating for a paperless future, some are concerned about the environmental cost of producing the required paper.
However, if the raw materials used to make paper are sustainably-sourced, then paper can be seen as a renewable resource; in 2020, 56 million tonnes of paper were recycled across Europe, a rate of 74 percent. On top of this, recent innovations have drastically reduced the amount of water used in the production process, ensuring that 93 percent of the water used can be returned to the environment.
The environmental impact of producing a digital advertising screen continues long after the lifespan of the screen has finished. According to 75Media, the screens face recyclability issues that are unlikely to be overcome soon, given that the ads are produced using components that turn into e-waste once the unit no longer functions.
As per environmental non-profit Two Sides, ‘raw materials from digital equipment, servers and power generators’ are finite, precious, and non-renewable, and in 2019, the world’s e-waste totalled 53.6 million metric tonnes, a figure equivalent to the weight of 350 cruise ships. As such, traditional printed display ads offer much more sustainable production and reproduction processes than digital signage.
Glen Eckett, Head of Marketing at Solopress, tells Digital Journal: “Given the environmental implications, it is disappointing to see so many city planners opting to replace traditional printed posters and adverts with electronic alternatives. In today’s climate of environmental responsibility, everyone should be aware of the excessive electricity used by digital signage, and factor that into their decision when choosing between digital and printed advertisements.”
