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As a website designer and developer I can't remember the amount of times I've been asked those questions, even by those I would consider to be environmentally aware. And I live in what I would consider to be a particularly eco conscious region. But it's true: many people simply don't know, or stop to consider, that their site might be having a negative effect on the environment.
But unfortunately, whether we like it or not, all websites require servers which are situated in air-conditioned data centres and stay turned on 24/7, 365 days a year, creating major problems around the globe for already vulnerable eco-systems, and causing unpredictable weather conditions, sea level rises and so on.
By 2007, the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) sector was estimated to be responsible for about 2% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Which according to reports is greater than the entire aviation industry. And that's four years ago! Imagine what those statistics must look like today with the massive rise of social media networks and the rapid advances in technology.
So what can we do? Well, there are many web hosting companies these days that will offset the emissions of your business website for very affordable prices.
However this does not account for the emissions caused by your visitors computers as they view your site or the emissions of the network between them and the server . Most green hosting providers don't factor these in. So you end up only offsetting a portion of your websites' total emissions. This is still a worthwhile pursuit and wouldn't dream of criticizing anyone for taking this first step to a carbon neutral website.
However there is a more thorough solution to this problem and it's incredibly simple to implement. It can even work on your current hosting.
My web design agency, Little Green Web, provides a complete solution for carbon neutral websites at competitive rates and includes a clickable green site certification link so your visitors can see carbon dioxide you or your business have been responsible for offsetting. So if this is an area you are interested in, please get in touch with me. I always like to hear from those who to change the world for the better.
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