Hello fellow carbon blobs and welcome to issue 7 of Beneath the Surface, where we celebrate the world of sustainable web design and come together to untangle the green web.
This issue marks 1 year since we first began writing Beneath the Surface.
The field of sustainable web design and digital sustainability as a whole has matured quite a lot since then, and it’s been a genuinely exciting time to be a small part of this growing world.
It has been heartening to see:
- Sustainable web design communities and groups being formed around the globe including climateaction.tech and The Sustainable UX Network.
- Tools being designed, created and maintained to both measure and reduce the environmental impact of websites.
- Books being written and guidelines being published to help us all be online in a way that’s more sustainable.
- Conferences such as Green IO bringing people and ideas together.
On the downside, the huge ongoing problem of AI’s frightening consumption of resources can sometimes make us feel as if designing low-carbon websites or encouraging people to send fewer emails is like pissing in the wind.
That said, and despite the many challenges ahead, we firmly believe that practicing sustainable web design is (and has to be) the future, and with the growing shared knowledge, resources and tools, we hope eventually the field of sustainable web design will simply be known as web design.
Thank you for joining us on this journey!
🔍 Understanding and measuring your website’s environmental impact (Updated)
We took this opportunity to revisit some of our own articles, including this one asking How much CO2 does a website produce? which has been updated with the latest facts and figures and considers the growing environmental cost of e-waste.
One of our key learnings to come out of 2024 is the need to look beyond the headline CO2 output of websites and consider the wider environmental impact of web server infrastructure, including water consumption and mineral mining. These elements are undoubtedly even more difficult to measure than carbon output, but they are important to acknowledge nonetheless.
Following on from this, we have also revised our article on Tools for calculating your website’s CO2 emissions.
This is by far the most read article on the Root blog, so we’ve updated it and added a couple of new tools, including CO2.js and EcoPing.
🍄 Unearthed
~ Digital sustainability news, insights and tips from around the web.
Tom Greenwood republishes his book, Sustainable Web Design
The book that coined the term ‘sustainable web design’ is now available as a print-on-demand volume and eBook following the news that the book’s original publisher, A Book Apart, has ceased trading. Originally published nearly four years ago, the Wholegrain Digital co-founder’s book has inspired, provoked and educated a whole new subset of ethical designers and developers, taking on something of almost biblical status within the world of eco-friendly web design.
The re-release has been updated to account for advancements over the past few years, and comes with a new lower price tag. It’s available from all good bookshops (as well as, yes, the digital consumerist behemoths).
W3C forms Sustainable Web Interest Group
The good folk behind the Web Sustainability Guidelines have announced the formation of a new interest group whose primary objective will be to encourage wider awareness of and compliance with evidence-based standards for a web that is ‘better for all people and the planet.’
Chaired by Tim Frick of MightyBytes, the Sustainable Web Interest Group will seek to liaise with regulatory bodies to improve compliance targets around ethical web design, as well as working to improve measurability, education and reporting.
Grid-Aware Websites
It’s already well known that a good-quality hosting provider is a key factor in running a low-carbon website. There is now a growing interest in where websites are hosted and the cleanliness of that country’s energy resources. Earlier this month, the Green Web Foundation introduced their Grid-Aware Websites Project.
Grid-aware websites are ones that react to the carbon intensity of a server’s local power grid, and output either a stripped back or ‘full’ experience based on the available ‘clean’ energy. It’s an interesting concept, and one we fully intend to explore in the future.
HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac
Another pioneering resource that’s been given a recent update is HTTP Archive’s Web Almanac, which includes a wide-ranging chapter on sustainability.
The Web Almanac is a comprehensive report about the state of the web, covering things like accessibility, page content and SEO. The newly updated sustainability chapter celebrates the growing wider awareness of web sustainability, while delving into the many ways and means we already have at our disposal for reducing the environmental impact of the web.
How much carbon do you generate daily?
Ever wonder how much carbon you, as an individual, generate through your daily digital activities? The Guardian columnist Chris Stokel-Walker had a look at his carbon footprint from a day’s worth of emails, WhatsApps and more. How do you think yours adds up in comparison?
☀️ Other news
- We’ve updated some of our featured projects, including low-carbon websites for food redistribution charity FareShare and The Museum Data Service.
- Bookings are now open for web development projects starting in the spring.
- Becky is taking bookings for copywriting projects starting from March. Drop her an email at becky@commachameleon.co.uk.
💚 Thank you for reading
This issue of Beneath the Surface was written by Paul Jardine and Becky Thorn. We’ll see you for issue 8 in the new year! ✌️