With over 1.13 billion websites currently active on the internet, the digital landscape is vast, and so is its environmental impact.
Each website consumes energy, from the servers that host them to the devices that access them. In fact, the average website produces about 1.76 grams of CO2 per page view, according to Website Carbon Calculator. This might seem small, but with billions of page views occurring daily, the cumulative effect is substantial, contributing significantly to global carbon emissions.
This has brought to light the concept of the digital carbon footprint, highlighting the pressing need for digital sustainability.
We’ve all heard of sustainability, but what is digital sustainability? It focuses on reducing the environmental footprint of our online activities by designing, developing, and operating websites in a way that minimizes their energy consumption and carbon emissions. As awareness of this issue grows, so does the demand for more sustainable digital practices.
A key figure in this movement is Drew Minns, a digital sustainability expert and founder of the creative studio Really Good Work. Minns and his team have partnered with leading brands like Mejuri and Shopify to reimagine their websites with sustainability as a priority. Their work proves that it’s possible to design functional, visually appealing websites while remaining environmentally conscious.
Websites designed with this in mind consume less energy, which in turn reduces their carbon footprint. Minns approaches this with precision, creating tailored plans that not only enhance user experience but also focus on reducing data usage across every aspect of a site.
For business owners looking to make their websites more sustainable, Minns offers several practical tips:
- Consider Using a Static Site: Unlike dynamic platforms like WordPress or Webflow, which require the server to build the site for every visitor, static sites generate pages at build time. This reduces server demands and energy consumption, leading to a lower carbon footprint. Static sites are becoming increasingly popular as modern tools now allow developers to create efficient, eco-friendly websites without sacrificing functionality.
- Opt for Dark Mode: Believe it or not, the color scheme of your website can have a significant impact on its energy consumption. Dark mode, which uses a dark or black background instead of a white one, is more energy-efficient, especially on OLED screens. These screens are common in modern smartphones and consume less power when displaying dark pixels. Implementing a dark mode option can reduce battery usage for mobile users, contributing to a more sustainable digital experience.
- Limit the Number of Fonts: While using multiple fonts can add variety to your website’s design, it also increases the site’s energy consumption. Each font file adds to the page load time and requires additional data. By sticking to one or two fonts, you can streamline your website’s design, improve performance, and reduce its environmental impact.
- Compress and Blur Images: Images are often one of the biggest contributors to a website’s data usage. Compressing images is a well-known technique to reduce file sizes, but another effective method is to blur the edges of images. Blurring reduces pixel variation, simplifying the image data and resulting in smaller file sizes. This, in turn, leads to faster load times and lower energy consumption.
- Prioritize Efficient Coding Practices: Efficient coding is the foundation of a sustainable website. By writing clean, optimized code and avoiding unnecessary scripts and plugins, you can reduce the amount of data needed to load your website. This not only improves site speed and user experience but also cuts down on the energy required to power the site.
As digital sustainability continues to gain traction, entrepreneurs and companies must recognize the importance of reducing the environmental impact of their online presence.
Learning from experts like Minns can really help businesses make a positive impact on the environment. While the internet does contribute to climate change, adopting sustainable practices can significantly cut down its carbon footprint.
Spencer Hulse is the Editorial Director at Grit Daily. He is responsible for overseeing other editors and writers, day-to-day operations, and covering breaking news.
