What is Eco-Friendly Web Design and Why It Matters
Scientific data leaves no room for ambiguity: climate change is accelerating, and humans are consuming Earth's resources faster than the natural cycle can replenish them. If we don't take action soon, we will end up in an ecological post-apocalyptic world worthy of a 1980s science fiction novel.
By general estimates, the internet produces about 1.6 billion tons of gas emissions per year. Clearly, this is an alarming number. But what is truly alarming is that this number is growing every day, as more and more energy is needed to sustain the expanding infrastructure.
Opening an email may not require a lot of resources, but if 4.6 billion people do it multiple times a day, the carbon footprint starts to add up. Everything we can do to reduce the carbon footprint helps, even if it's just a little.
Web pages and web developers play a key role in addressing this challenge. While it is very difficult to change the behavior of billions of people at once, web pages can be consciously designed so that each user consumes fewer resources when using them.
Think of it this way: instead of changing the behavior of a hundred users, we can change the energy consumption of the sites they visit. Of course, it would be best to change both behavior and optimize the system, but the latter has a broader impact than the former.
What is Sustainable Web Development?
Sustainable web development is an approach to designing digital products and services that puts people and the planet first. It is about incorporating environmentally safe technologies into design and focusing on the impact your project will have on the world around you.
Although it is not a requirement, most people using sustainable web development adopt the Sustainable Web Manifesto, which calls for an internet that is:
- Clean: The services provided and used will run on renewable energy sources.
- Efficient: Products and services will use the least possible amount of energy and material resources.
- Open: Products and services should be accessible, allow users to control their data, and enable open exchange of information.
- Honest: Products and services should not mislead or exploit users in their design and content.
- Regenerative: Products and services will support an economy that nourishes people and the planet.
- Resilient: Products and services will function at the time and place where users need them most.
Sustainable web design is also part of a corporate digital responsibility strategy that includes social, economic, environmental, and technological practices. It's very simple: in a more conscious world, we must be aware of the impact we have on other people and the environment.
Sustainable Web Design Practices
Honestly, if you've ever been involved in projects related to lean web design, performance-oriented web design, or low-cost/low-usage web design, then you've already taken the first steps toward eco-friendliness.
Whenever you reduce the amount of energy consumed by a web project, you are helping the environment. This can mean anything from using the least possible resources to optimizing the program to require less processing. Or it could be simply creating a user experience that minimizes interaction with the product.
Sustainable web design practices can be summarized into the following six categories:
- Website Performance Optimization: How optimized is your web project? How much data is transferred with each interaction? Do users need to be constantly online to use it? Why? The less data transfer, the more energy we save.
- Content Findability: How quickly can users find information? Is your web project easy to navigate? Do users find the information useful? Do they have to perform subsequent searches?
- Usability: How accessible is your web project? How quickly can a user accomplish a task? Does it require high data transfer speeds? Why?
- Eco-Friendly Web Hosting: Are you using server hosting solutions that guarantee the use of clean energy?
- Client and Project Ethics: What impact do we have on our clients? Are we clear about our methods and practices?
- Business Practice: Beyond the project itself, does your business implement green solutions that promote a culture of sustainability?
If you're thinking, 'Wow, that's a lot,' you're absolutely right. Implementing a culture of sustainability takes time and effort: we need not only to change the paradigm but also to train our teams to move away from old practices and create new habits. That in itself is a challenge.
Green Partners
Beyond our culture, to promote eco-friendly practices we need to build business relationships with other companies that share our values. As mentioned above, green web hosting is a great example of what we mean.
Servers and data storage consume a huge amount of energy. For example, Google's data farms require enough energy to power a small country, and blockchain consumes as much energy as Argentina.
Look for partners that use carbon-neutral solutions, such as servers that run entirely or as much as possible on renewable energy. Outsource work to companies that fully embrace sustainability principles. Promote carbon-zero products and encourage eco-friendly practices among your users.
However, it should be noted that many use carbon credits to offset their carbon footprint. This is a perfectly reasonable approach, but it must be a conscious one. Let me explain.
A carbon credit is a kind of permit representing a certain amount of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere. Companies typically buy them to offset their carbon dioxide emissions. The idea is that we can offset our current carbon footprint by investing in efforts that will eliminate those emissions in the long run.
Assuming all carbon credits lead to efforts that effectively reduce carbon dioxide emissions, the problem is that this will happen in the future, while we continue to increase our carbon footprint. It doesn't make sense to invest in the future and then destroy the possibility of seeing that future.
A New Paradigm
Eco-friendly web design is not just a trend; it is a change in our understanding and approach to doing business. Our current models have created a technocratic paradise, but at a huge cost.
We must be more responsible towards other people and the world. Profit matters just as much as preserving our planet and building a better society.
We must be more responsible towards other people and the world. Profit matters just as much as preserving our planet and building a better society.