ECO-FRIENDLY ONLINE PRESENCES – PATRICIA GEYR

May 11, 2024

WEB DESIGN FOR AN ECO-FRIENDLY ONLINE PRESENCE

The power consumption and CO2 footprint of websites are often underestimated. According to a study by The SHIFT Project, the internet accounts for about 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions worldwide, which is roughly equivalent to the CO2 emissions from air travel. A large portion of this is due to the operation of data centers and the transmission of data.

Sustainable Web Design – More Than Just a Trend

An article by Patricia Geyr

Sustainable web design is a commitment to making our digital presence more environmentally friendly. Through targeted measures, we can improve the performance of our websites and help to reduce the internet's ecological footprint and create a more sustainable future.

Faster loading times thanks to sustainable web design improve website performance, leading to a better user experience and positively impacting search engine rankings. According to a Google study, users tend to leave a website after just three seconds of waiting. Fast loading times are therefore crucial to keep users on the page and increase potential conversions.

Furthermore, sustainable web design contributes to environmental protection by conserving resources and reducing the CO2 footprint. By optimizing images, using efficient programming techniques, and selecting eco-friendly hosting options, a website's energy consumption can be significantly reduced.

4 Steps to a Sustainable Website

Less is often more: A clear, data-saving design with intuitive user guidance saves resources and ensures more satisfied users. Minimalist designs are also timeless and thus more durable. What is used longer is automatically more sustainable. Furthermore, costs for personnel-intensive and expensive relaunches are eliminated.

Efficient programming through the use of local system fonts, the compression of CSS and JavaScript, lean code, and the use of lazy loading shortens loading times. Efficient caching and the use of modern image formats like WebP, which offer better compression, also contribute to resource conservation.

Adherence to web standards like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) for accessibility makes websites more accessible to people with disabilities. Accessible website design allows a larger number of people to use the website, thereby reducing resource consumption on other channels.

At web-crossing, all servers for hosting are operated in the data center of a local energy provider – with 100 percent electricity from renewable energies. Various hosting providers offer "green" hosting packages that are exclusively powered by renewable energies. This, along with the use of virtual servers, also contributes to a website's sustainability.

Editorial Contribution to Sustainability

Website editors can also contribute to sustainability by compressing images and avoiding unnecessary media files. Using image optimization tools like JPEGmini or TinyPNG can help reduce file size without compromising image quality. Uploading media files to the server only once and linking them in the content saves storage space and also optimizes loading times.

To keep the database clean and reduce storage requirements, unused content should be regularly deleted.

Further Information