The Internet: a "CO2 guzzler"
Sustainable websites: Good for both the environment & conversions
Until now, the internet and its digital services have been used with the belief that they help save resources, as vast amounts of paper, consumables, waste and rubbish are replaced by pure, clean data transfer.
But little by little, a very different reality is emerging when it comes to sustainability. The ecological footprint of global data traffic – from data centres to transmission networks and end devices – is in fact massive. To be precise, it currently amounts to some 416.2 terawatts per year, with a strong upward trend. The "Sustainable Web Manifesto" website has calculated the following: If the internet were a country, it could rank as the fourth largest CO2 emitter in the world.
Germany alone emits 33 million tonnes of CO2 annually through the operation of the internet and internet-enabled devices. This is about as much as is produced by all domestic air traffic in Germany.
But Germans aren't the only ones contributing to the emissions account of digitalisation. According to a recent study, more than four billion people used the internet in 2019 – and online activities such as cloud computing, streaming services and cashless payment systems have led to a steady increase in energy demand. More than half the world's population is now online and this figure continues to grow. Sustainable websites therefore now play an important role.
Your contact
Angela Kunwald
Managing Director
The internet is hugely damaging to the climate
The first power guzzler and CO2 polluter: search engines
In recent years, a variety of calculations have been made to assess the impact of the internet on the global carbon footprint. And yes, the results are alarming.
Back in 2009, a Harvard physicist found that a single search with Google and others produces some seven grams of C02. Another astonishing figure: one gigabyte of data consumes 13 kilowatt hours of electricity and produces approximately 544 grams of CO2 per kilowatt hour.
This means that 47,000 search queries per second emit about half a tonne of C02. It would take no less than 23 trees to offset a single second of Googling.
The second power guzzler and CO2 polluter: data centres
The third power guzzler and CO2 polluter: streaming services
A sustainable website makes a huge difference
Websites also play a key role. The more data they consume, the higher their electricity consumption. Even a simple website generates around 1.76 grams of CO2 per visit. With 20,000 views, that's as much as 352 kilograms of CO2.
So, with all this in mind, it is more than advisable for IT companies and developers to promote environmental protection and sustainability. This can be achieved through sustainable websites with sustainable web design (green web design).
A sustainable website offers many advantages
Better performance thanks to faster loading times
The success of a website depends, among other things, on the loading time. If a page takes longer than three seconds to load, half the visitors have already moved on. A sustainable website generally loads faster and is easier to use.
The reasons for this are reduced resource consumption, leaner code and smaller data sizes thanks to less CSS, JavaScript elements, compressed images and videos.
Faster loading times and lower power consumption lead to a significantly better carbon footprint – as well as more cost-effective energy management. An undeniable win-win situation for both businesses and the planet.
SEO optimisation through better search engine ranking
A sustainable website offers faster page speeds and a user-friendly design. These two factors also have a major impact on a good search engine ranking, as they are among the most important Google ranking factors.
Positive brand and company perception
It is important for companies to not only think about sustainability strategies, but also to actively implement them in the form of green marketing – in a way that is visible to customers.
This also includes green web design, which can be communicated on the company website and therefore ensures a better, environmentally conscious brand and company perception.
Environmental protection and resource conservation
Creating sustainable websites – with a long-lasting, sustainable design – not only has a positive effect on visitor numbers and the company's success, but also on the environment.
Less power consumption through a sustainable website and green hosting with green electricity results in lower CO2 emissions – and contributes to making the web more sustainable.
Designing and implementing sustainable web design
Data-saving web design
A data-saving web design focuses on the following three points: avoiding unnecessary data consumption, offering an efficient page architecture and only using media data with added value.
This is because images, thumbnails, videos, style elements, advertising banners and animated page areas in particular produce a huge amount of data, increase energy consumption and therefore also emissions.
Instead of overloading pages, images can be compressed using the right tools. It is also important to look into which multimedia elements offer visitors the added value they expect in order to stay on the site.
The other levers for an energy-saving web design include keeping navigation lean, locally installed system fonts, clean code, compressing CSS, lazy loading and a long-lasting, timeless design.
Because sustainability also means durability. After all, a website with a timeless and universal design ages more slowly and reduces the cost of redesigning and revising it.
This also saves costs for expensive relaunches. Minimalist elegance with a clear, purposeful structure of content and long-term page aesthetics therefore makes sense as a step towards sustainable web design.
Green hosting and green IT
The approximately 50,000 data centres in Germany consumed around 16 billion kilowatt hours of electricity in 2020. That's more than the annual electricity consumption of a large city like Berlin.
So, if you want to create a sustainable website, you should also think about the power consumption of the servers through web hosting. Green hosting stands for hosting servers and data centres that are powered by electricity from renewable sources. The website of the Green Web Foundation provides a good overview of suitable providers.
In this respect, every website operator should make sure that the website host offers green hosting, or that they use it. It's a simple step with enormous potential for CO2 savings.
Green IT, on the other hand, focuses not only on energy supply, but also on sustainable, holistic production and provision, smart IT utilisation and the proper disposal of IT products.
Providers whose strategies, expertise and business models are based on green IT and green hosting are generally easy to recognise by the following:
- Only electricity from renewable energy sources is used for server operation.
- Discarded hardware is disposed of properly or recycled.
- All hardware is equipped with eco-certificates or labels.
- Energy management is certified.
- The reduction of CO2 emissions is certified.
- Environmental protection projects are supported.
- Intelligent infrastructures, e.g. virtualised and centralised services, are used.
Clear, concise, sustainable codes
Lean, clear codes greatly support the development of a sustainable website because they ensure significantly less data consumption and less effort when maintaining the codes.
Efficient programming allows scripts such as CSS and JavaScript to be compressed so as to avoid unnecessarily large data transfers during server communication.
Caching, the storage of data in the cache, can also be improved to prevent unnecessary data transfers. The more efficient the algorithms and codes are, the more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly the website is.
Tools for checking the sustainability and functionality of codes include refactoring tools that check changes and replace obsolete code elements with new ones.
At the same time, there are verification tools that check the behaviour of codes, detect additional errors and facilitate integrations.
Clear, well-organised code therefore prevents code smell and code red (obsolete, useless code elements) in the long term and improves not only code efficiency but also the website's eco-balance.
Lower costs, a better image and more sales
Cost savings through less resource consumption
More conversions through better user-friendliness
Eine nachhaltige Website verkürzt die Ladezeiten und verbessert so die Performance. Denn eine bessere Nutzerfreundlichkeit trägt dazu bei, dass die Nutzer länger auf der Website verweilen und sich somit die Conversion-Rate erhöht.
PR and marketing benefits
More and more people are realising that online activities are having a significant impact on the environment. With a sustainable website, a company can position itself as actively environmentally conscious – and secure positive PR and marketing benefits.
Conclusion: Absolutely sustainable
Websites can also be sustainable and contribute to the positive image building of companies with their climate and environmental friendliness. Especially because real action is especially credible through the example of a sustainable website.
There are many factors to consider when operating a sustainable website. These include commissioning environmentally friendly hosting providers or optimising images and videos for faster loading times.
It is also important to use only green energy and to be careful when setting energy guzzlers such as cookies. In the long term, the effort involved in running a sustainable website is worthwhile due to the many benefits that arise.
After all, it isn’t only about a better image, but also better sales. This is where a sustainable website with faster loading times and a simpler UX design helps keep users on the site for longer and therefore encourage conversions.
Your contact
Angela Kunwald
Managing Director