So you want to reduce the carbon footprint of your website? Great! This is an important step for anyone looking to make their business sustainable. But you will no doubt have questions like where do you start? How can I even measure my carbon footprint in the first place? What are some ways that I can reduce the carbon footprint of my website without breaking the bank or compromising on quality? These are all good questions, and we’re here to help answer them.
What does carbon footprint mean?
A carbon footprint is the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions caused by an individual, event, organisation or product. Calculating carbon footprints can help people measure their carbon usage and identify ways to reduce it. The “Carbon Footprint Calculator” from CarbonFund provides a simple methodology for calculating your carbon footprint based on information such as housing type and commute distance.
How you measure your website’s carbon footprint depends on what type of information is being discussed. It also depends on how detailed you want to get with measuring, and how much carbon emissions really matter to you and your business.
How do I measure the carbon footprint of my website?
There are several tools available to help you determine how much carbon dioxide is being emitted by your site. One examples is Google’s Chrome Experiments “Project Sunroof” which calculates the carbon footprint of any address in Australia.
Additionally there are some free online calculators like this Website Carbon Calculator from Wholegrain Digital. In terms of data centres and servers, it may be smart to reach out to your hosting provider and ask them how they monitor carbon emissions.
How does the carbon footprint of my website compare to other activities?
According to a study from 2008, the carbon footprint of websites is about 0.01% of global carbon emissions – not including data centres and servers which host websites. An average website produces 4.61 grams of CO2 for every page view. For websites that have an average of 10,000 page views per month, that makes 553 kilograms of CO2 per year. That is about the same weight as a thoroughbred horse!
How can I reduce the carbon footprint of my website?
There are a number of ways you can reduce carbon emissions from your website. Some options include:
- switching to an energy efficient hosting provider
- using green technology such as renewable energy
- making environmentally conscious design choices that still provide a great user experience, for example using green coding.
What is green coding and how can it help my carbon footprint?
Green coding is a way to reduce carbon emissions through environmentally conscious design choices that still provide a high-quality user experience for your customers and visitors. Many greencoders are becoming experts in using sustainable resources, techniques and technologies when designing their sites so they can be carbon neutral without sacrificing style or speed.
An example of green coding is creating website layouts that are carbon neutral based on the number of bytes used. Some examples include using responsive design, HTML and CSS frameworks like Bootstrap or Foundation, and SVG images instead of PNGs.
In conclusion
Carbon footprints are real, they can be measured and compared to other activities. The carbon footprint of your website depends on whether you want to measure data centre emissions or the carbon dioxide emitted by people viewing your site.
There are many ways to reduce the carbon footprint of a webpage with minimal impact on user experience. This include environmentally conscious design choices that still provide a high-quality service at an affordable price point.
Get in touch with us today to learn more about how green coding can help you reduce your website’s carbon footprint and help the environment in the process.