Society has internalized that the use of fossil fuels, mass consumption or deforestation pollution rates increase. However, many are unaware of the impact our digital footprint has on the environment. There are still uncertainties surrounding these calculations, but researchers from Lancaster University and Small World Consulting suggest that Internet use could represent up to 3.9% of total greenhouse emissions.
For SiteGround, the specialist hosting service provider, the impact of our Internet presence on the environment can be significantly reduced. The year 2021 closed with more than 1.9 million websites. Every view of a web page can generate 1.76g of CO2, This means that a site with 100,000 visits per month emits 2,112kg of CO2 each year. However, the vast majority are unaware of the technical solutions to make a more sustainable website.
At this point, SiteGround affirms that optimization is the great ally for any page to be friendly to the environment. “The faster a website loads, the less energy it will consume and therefore the less carbon footprint it will emit. We are talking about a win-win: optimizing performance helps both the planet and the business“, Explain Jose Ramon PadronCountry Manager of SiteGround in Spain.
In parallel to the optimization, the hosting company claims that the reduction in browsing time contributes to saving energy consumption. “This is obvious; the better the content architecture of a website and the more calls to action are included, the less time the user will invest in fulfilling their objective; be it buying, reading, getting information, etc.”, Padron points out. To do this, they recommend basing themselves on three lines of action:
Optimize information architecture
Carrying out an optimization process means giving each click an unequivocal function to lead the user to fulfill their objective with the minimum effort and in the shortest possible time. It is necessary to eliminate everything on the web that does not fulfill a specific mission related to its objective.
Web performance optimization
Web performance optimization reduces the loading time of the web and thus increases its speed thanks to optimization strategies (included in WPO: Website Performance Optimization). This means making a drastic reduction in the weight of elements such as images, videos, compressing the content or using CDN networks. Everything contributes to reducing the consumption of resources such as processor and RAM memory and, consequently, the reduction of electricity consumption in each visit of our users.
Furthermore, each visit to a website demands a lot of computer power and energy consumption. Websites hosted by a provider with powerful caching enabled are sites five times faster and reduce server processing to a minimum.
Apply UX best practices
In order to reduce energy usage, SiteGround recommends applying user experience best practices. The user journey should be simple and straightforward. This process is achieved by minimizing the number of unnecessary distractions on a website that can confuse visitors or slow down their searches, as well as strategically using calls to action (CTAs) making it easy for users to navigate. It is also convenient to offer a personalized experience to the devices most used by regular users and optimize Checkout in electronic stores, avoiding errors in entering payment data, among many others.
Last but not least, as a way to reduce the carbon footprint of websites, is to bet on premium infrastructure in the cloud and data centers that match and equate 100% of their electricity consumption with energy from renewable sources. , which represents a commitment to sustainability.
