Sounds Good: How the Inflation Reduction Act and New EPA Regulations Mitigate the Music Streaming Industry’s Carbon Footprint
While digitalized, the music streaming industry is not decarbonized. In fact, research suggests the industry accounts for 200 to 350 million kilograms of greenhouse gases emitted every year in the U.S. These emissions derive from streaming platforms’ reliance on data centers, which consume enormous amounts of energy. This Article contends that the Inflation Reduction Act (“IRA”) and new EPA rules will eliminate the music streaming industry’s emissions by encouraging investment in clean energy and carbon capture technology—transforming the energy consumed by data centers tethered to the streaming industry. The new EPA rules should withstand the major questions doctrine, as applied in West Virginia v. EPA, and the IRA addresses the Jevons and Paperless Office Paradoxes as applied to music streaming by anticipating future electricity demand
PDF: https://journals.law.unc.edu/ncjolt/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2024/11/Hammons-Final.pdf
Author: Thomas C. Hammons
Volume 26, Issue 2