The internet globally produces more carbon emissions than the aviation industry. We try to fly less and take more public transport when we can… but what about our online carbon footprint?
From data centres, to transmission networks, to the billions of devices that are connected and consuming or sending data 24hrs a day; everything we use to avail of the internet consumes electricity. In turn, this produces carbon emissions. If the internet was a country its emissions would be equivalent to Germany which is the 6th biggest polluter in the world the fourth biggest polluter in the world. It is predicted that in 2025 the IT industry will use 20% of the world’s electricity.
According to a recent report from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden, the internet accounts for about 10% of the world’s total electricity consumption and produces approximately 3.8% of global carbon emissions. This is on par/if not worse than the amount produced by the airline industry globally [1], and these emissions are predicted to double by 2025.[2] (Since this citing it has exceeded aviation emissions)
Edit: The above is now out of date and we have surpassed predictions.
(1) bbc.com
(2) theshiftproject.org
We can take simple steps to make our websites more efficient, more user friendly, and more accessible. And the ultimate bonus? These steps reduce our carbon emissions. Here are a few examples:
1: Eco hosting
The most simple step of all: switch to green hosting. Servers and data centers eat up electricity. They also consume a great deal of water.
Facilities run by tech giants like Facebook and Amazon require tens of millions of litres to cool their servers during warm summer months in Ireland
businesspost.ie
While we can’t control the data centres used by large multinationals, we can control the data centre our website is hosted on. Switching to a hosting provider powered by renewable energy can greatly minimise the environmental impact of your website. You need to do some homework to choose the right one for you. Some merely offset their carbon while others are actually powered by renewable energy and use cold aisle containment (free cooling). Check your green credentials by entering your website URL on The Green Web Foundation website.
2: Optimisation
Over half of would-be mobile users will “bounce” if a site takes 3+ seconds to load. Optimising our sites will make them run more efficiently, load faster, and improve user experience. How can this be achieved?
- By compressing CSS, JavaScript, and media files.
- Optimising SEO usability and keywords.
- Using system fonts where possible – they might not look as cool but they are cooler for the environment!
- Reducing tracking and advertising scripts – 3rd party scripts such as Google Analytics or functions. Do you really need them? They are energy gobbling, data munchers and users don’t like cookie pop-ups. They also slow down your site. Is there a better alternative?
- Using darker colours and less animation.
3: User experience (UX)
An accessible user experience will help people find what they need quickly. This not only uses less energy, it also means less frustrated users. A clear navigation structure and fast loading pages are key. In other words, no faffing about, just give the visitor what they’re looking for! This is important because end consumer device use can potentially account for up to 52% of a digital product or service’s overall emissions. Also, think about your user demographic; we shouldn’t assume everybody’s mobile device is as powerful as our own or that their internet connection is equal to ours. This is especially poignant if your website is, let’s say, a charity. Or perhaps if your users are roaming they would appreciate you not eating up all their data. By making the user experience more efficient and thus more sustainable we make it better for both people and the planet.
4: Content
Most importantly: Less is more.
- Try to keep images and video content minimal where possible, use smaller images or convert them to WebP format, and/or use a compression tool to make media files smaller.
- If you must use video could you link to one? If not, avoid auto-play and keep the video short. Do you really need a video background? Think of your end user – do they need all that data?
- Do you need a carousel/slider? The evidence suggests users neither like them nor use them.
5: Caching
Websites using CMS eg. WordPress generate pages dynamically every time someone visits a page. This requires server processing for every page view, increasing energy consumption. We can counter this by using caching technology that generates static versions of each page. This significantly reduces server energy consumption and makes a big difference to page load times.
6: Website + e-office spring clean
Regularly carry out a spring clean and delete anything that is no longer of use. This includes: unwanted themes and plugins, unused images and videos, spam comments, broken links, etc. Keep everything up to date and secure so you don’t attract bots. The more streamlined your site the easier it is to use, and the less energy it consumes.
Some tips for being more sustainable online in general:
- Keep email signatures simple – no images.
- If you’re subscribed to lots of e-newsletters perform a cull, keeping the “must-haves” only.
- Send one less email a day. Do you really need to reply with “Thank You” ? Thank them in advance! If everyone adopted this simple change we would save thousands of tonnes of carbon a year.
- Apply the above to mobile phone apps too. Delete ones you don’t need or use. Turn off notifications and try to spend less time scrolling – this will be beneficial to energy use, mental health, and overall productivity!
- Reduce your number of video calls where possible. Maybe a voice call is sufficient? If you must Zoom, turn your camera off unless it is absolutely necessary you appear on screen.
- Go for a quality over quantity approach on social media. Digital detoxing is good for the planet and our mental health.
- Plug out instead of leaving on standby.
- Lower the brightness on your screens and use dark mode.
- You don’t need to stream movies/watch youtube in Ultra HD, despite what the marketing tells you your eyes can barely tell the difference.
Resources
- Check your website’s CO2 emissions with the Website Carbon Calculator
- Find hosting powered by green energy via The Green Web Foundation
- Check the performance of your site with Google Lighthouse Report. Enter your site URL in Google Chrome. You’ll find the report tool in >more tools >developer tools.
"Environment-centered design is an approach to product or service development that aims to make products or services environmentally, socially and economically sustainable by focusing on the needs, limitations and preferences of target human audience and non-human strategic stakeholders. It involves knowledge and design techniques developed at the intersection of human-centered design, usability, ecology, and sustainability science."
— Monika Sznel, The Time For Environment-Centered Design Has ComeIf you’d like help reducing your website carbon emissions Contact Me Here.