Websites have a bigger impact on the environment that you might think. Each site contributes to carbon emissions, and the more complex the website the more damage that could be done. You might be conscious about your workplace recycling, access to public transport, and reducing your printing, but have you ever thought about the consequences of your website?
When a website is running, the servers are working hard to deliver information through data transfers. Unfortunately, all that complicated data delivery comes at the expense of carbon production. Whilst you’re sat at home happily scrolling through sites, greenhouse gases are being pumped into our atmosphere. Now, don’t feel too guilty, the internet is what our society functions on today and there are a million brilliant things about it. Plus, there are ways that you can make your own website less harmful.
Low Carbon Design
The biggest factors to a high-carbon website are large file types, slow load times, and unnecessary click-throughs.
The more energy that a server must put into your website to deliver information to a user, the bigger impact on the environment. By cutting down substantial files, ridding your site of needless bulky content and streamlining the information you want to give to consumers, you can reduce your website’s carbon footprint. This comes hand-in-hand with slow load times. By reducing your content, you can achieve quicker load times and ensure your website server is working half the time and therefore producing significantly less carbon emissions.
Ever considered that your website is a little too ‘here, there and everywhere’? Benefit from a more efficient website and put a low-carbon website into practice. If your website is riddled with click-throughs, it might be time to consider if they are all necessary. By cropping down the number of buttons, you are reducing data transfers. In effect, this can cut down on the websites data functions and therefore reduce its carbon footprint.
Prioritising efficiency with your website design can deliver on more than just environmental factors too. Cutting out unnecessary files, speeding up load times, and improving website navigation, all work towards an eco-friendly site and a good user experience. Therefore, with benefits beyond saving the planet. Achieve the website you want and need, without compromising the environment.
Green Hosting
Start your mission to a more sustainable website before the designing even takes place. Choose to host your site with a green hosting platform. It is possible to work with sustainable website hosting platforms with eco-friendly solutions, that not only deliver on eco benefits but translate incredible looking and functioning websites.
Using renewable energy sources, green hosting platforms reduce the environmental impact of websites by hosting them in a sustainable manner. Instead of burning through irreplaceable energy resources, green hosts utilise renewable sources such as wind and solar power to create a less damaging solution for websites to run from and work to prioritise long-lasting environmental solutions.
Digital Sustainability Consultancy
There is a lot to take in when it comes to sustainable web design and web hosting. Too much to even squeeze into this blog. Don’t worry though, you can still begin to put in the steps to building a website that is kind to the environment without the risk of becoming overwhelmed. We recommend enrolling into professional workshops and investing in consultancy services that will help you to achieve your goals to become a low-carbon business.
Take the opportunity to learn in-depth about the reasons that websites are such huge contributors to carbon emissions, the ways this can be combatted, and even review how your own site is contributing to carbon emissions. Digital Sustainability Workshops are all about working with you to deliver the goals that you’re seeking to achieve. Have a deeper insight into where your website can cut back on the carbon emissions and dedicate some time to learning more about the impacts of websites on the environment.
Step Closer to a Sustainable Website
Sustainable web design is simple when in the hands of experts.
Bring to life a website that delivers on your business goals and has integrity too. It doesn’t have to be a slog to take an eco-friendly approach to your website. MacMartin are here to give you one less thing to worry about and design a low-carbon website that you are proud represents your company. We use green hosting, low-carbon design methods, and even offer bespoke consultancy services around becoming a ‘low carbon business’ to help on your journey to becoming more eco.
At MacMartin we design with the world in mind, so you can entice website users to your business’s site, guilt free. We will put emphasis on the criteria you want your site to deliver, whilst keeping sustainable web design at the forefront.
Get in touch HERE to learn how you can utilise our sustainable web design services.
Or, contact us on hello@macmartin.co.uk and we’ll be happy to chat.
