Why eco-friendly websites are needed
The internet and any activities that take place with the internet produce carbon emissions:
- A one-megabyte email (= 1 MB) during its total life cycle emits 20 g of CO2, i.e. the equivalent of an old 60 W lamp lit for 25 min.
- 20 emails a day per user over one year, create the same CO2 emissions as a car travelling 1000 km.
- A single router consumes 10,000 watts (10 kW). A very large data centre comes close to 100 million watts (100 MW), or one-tenth of the output of a thermal power station.
- The search for a web address represents 3.4 Wh (0.8 g CO2 equivalent). But the total rises to 10 g after an internet search producing five results. If a web user makes an average of 2.6 web searches per day, this user can be extrapolated to be emitting 9.9 kg of CO2 equivalent per year.
- When browsing the web, an average internet user yearly needs about 365 kWh electricity and 2,900 litres of water, which corresponds to the CO2 that is emitted when you travel a good 1,400 km by car.
You can view an awesome infographic explaining this on climatecare.org. Climate Care tailor programmes to help organisations offset residual carbon emissions. They source, structure, develop and deliver large-scale emission reductions for governments and organisations, helping them meet their compliance obligations.
So, the question is not why eco-friendly websites are needed? Why is making everything as eco-friendly as possible important? The simple answer; it helps to keep the Earth habitable, and we are the idiots that live on Earth.
Key reasons to consider an Eco Friendly Website:
- Conserve Natural Resources: Our natural resources are drying up rather quickly. Since 1970, the use of natural resources has more than tripled and only continues to grow each year. However, when we recycle, we are helping to slow down the consumption of these resources. According to the EPA, for every ton of paper we recycle, we save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 4,000 kilowatts of energy, and 7,000 gallons of water.
- Curb Climate Change: The burning of fossil fuels for energy is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. This type of energy results in destructive carbon dioxide emissions that pollute our environment. Research shows that switching to energy-efficient appliances could help to reduce carbon emissions by up to 19 percent. In 2017, recycling alone saved over 184 million tons of carbon dioxide from our environment. This is the equivalent of removing 39 million cars from the road in one year.
How we make eco-friendly websites
All websites we build are hosted with Eco Web Hosting: They are a hosting company with a minimal carbon footprint. They’ve planted over 300 trees as part of reforestation campaigns, and have plans to plant even more across England in the coming years. The websites they host are hosted on extremely energy-efficient Dell servers, including SSDs that use less power than standard hard disks. Their team works remotely, minimising commuting and business travel, and work to run a paperless operation as well as personal eco-friendly practices.
We work hard to guarantee high-speed websites. A slow website is one that uses a lot of energy. Besides that, users also really hate slow-loading websites. So much so, that page speed is a ranking factor to Google, including for mobile.
We offset all emissions from the website build by planting a tree with Tree-Nation. Tree-Nation gathers and coordinates reforestation efforts worldwide in a unique platform, enabling every citizen, company and planter to take action.
We make use of recycled office equipment, everything from our computers, our printers to the notebooks we use at the in2eco HQ are purchased with sustainability in mind.
Interested in an eco-friendly website? You take a look at our rent and buy costs, or use the form below to get in contact with our design team!