Many of us are concerned about the planet and how we affect the environment of the one beautiful planet we call home. Each of our actions has a direct or indirect effect on the environment, including our websites.
Each website requires electricity to run, which produces carbon emissions. Many people don’t realise how their online time has such an impact on nature! Consider that some believe if the Internet were a country, it would be the world’s seventh-largest polluter. Who would have thought that the Internet’s carbon footprint was that big?
Reducing the Internet’s carbon footprint starts with the websites we build and use. The key is to find ways to reduce the amount of electricity our sites require.
We’ve put together some methods you can implement to lower your site’s carbon emissions in this article. But first, let’s take a look at how you can measure your site’s emissions!
How to Measure Your Website’s Carbon Footprint
There’s a handy tool called the Website Carbon Calculator that can measure your site’s carbon footprint. The tool is very easy to use. Just type in the URL of the site, and the tool gets to work calculating your site’s carbon emissions.
The Website Carbon Calculator will show you different measurements, which include:
- Where your site ranks in the web pages tested
- How much carbon is produced every time someone visits the page
- Whether the site is running on sustainable energy (or not)
- And more
You’ll also find links to information on how to lower your site’s carbon footprint.
1) Reduce Energy Consumption
The very first place to start reducing your site’s carbon footprint is by reducing its energy consumption. The carbon produced by the Internet is created by the devices we use to go online and the servers that host the sites’ data.
All of this is run on computers, which generate heat. Servers are computers and are very sensitive to becoming too hot. When they do overheat, they tend to slow down. Energy is needed to keep the servers cooled down and working efficiently. So, how can you reduce your site’s energy usage? Let’s take a look.
Make it faster: sites that use fewer amounts of data simply put out less carbon. So, make sure the site’s web pages load fast.
Reduce the number of resources used: reduce the number of files requested to reduce emissions.
Optimise images: reducing the size of the site’s images can also help lower its carbon footprint. You can use a free tool such as TinyPNG to reduce the size of your images without sacrificing image quality.
Lazy load images: this is another way to reduce the amount of energy your site requires. Lazy loading means the means are only loaded when required. For example, images at the top of the page load; however, the images further down the page only load when a site visitor scrolls down to them. If the user does not scroll down, then the image doesn’t load, which improves your site’s emissions.
Reduce JavaScript: unfortunately, JavaScript tends to use a large amount of energy. For instance, with a parallax site, the JavaScript page keeps redrawing the screen. The page keeps using energy on the device, which increases the amount of energy required.
Choose a sustainable hosting company: another way to reduce the energy your site uses is to choose a hosting company that uses energy from sustainable sources, such as wind or solar.
2) Design to be Inclusive
What do we mean by this? Here, we are encouraging designers to be inclusive about the types of devices their sites support. Many individuals are caught up with the excitement of a new device. But what happens to the old device? It may sit on the shelf, be recycled, or even thrown away. Devices thrown into the landfill carry harmful metals and chemicals that can damage the environment.
So, why not consider creating a site that supports legacy devices? Keeping a device for an extra six months can cut the environmental cost of the device by as much as 20%. For this reason, ensure your site supports legacy devices, which helps to reduce electronic waste.
3) Use SEO
Not many people can see what SEO has to do with lowering a site’s carbon footprint. But there’s a huge tie-in. When a site is optimised, site users are able to find the site quickly and then find the information they want on the site easily and fast.
Do you see what we mean? The less time a person spends on the site, the less energy is used. Plus, the energy used is optimised to provide a great user experience.
4) User Experience (UX)
While we’re speaking about user experience, there are ways to improve the UX on a site and lower its carbon footprint at the same time. Again, it comes down to making the site easy to navigate. Site visitors can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, which means fewer minutes on the site. The result is a lower amount of energy consumed by the site for each visitor.
Energy is wasted when site visitors have a difficult time navigating the site’s pages and trying to figure out what they need to do next.
Improve your site’s UX, and you’ll lower the site’s carbon emissions.
5) Choose Fonts Carefully
Here’s another issue that not many realise can affect a site’s energy usage. Font files can be rather large at times, requiring more energy to serve the page. To reduce the environmental impact of the site:
- Use system fonts when possible
- Use fewer font variations
Summing It Up
When looking for ways to lower your website’s carbon footprint, be sure to go with the fundamentals of web design. When followed, these fundamentals can help reduce the site’s emissions by quite a bit.
Be sure your site is fast and easy to use. Remember to make the site inclusive for legacy devices, and you will have a great site. What’s more, your site will present visitors with an excellent experience and help the environment at the same time.