Understanding the environmental impact of websites
Recently, more and more clients are becoming aware of the environmental impact of their marketing activities. Even more recognised is that this impact extends beyond the traditional print and physical media and extends to the digital world as well. With increased understanding of the environmental impact of digital channels, particularly highlighted by the footprint caused by AI recently, we have used this article to outline some key facts about websites, how they affect the environment and Oyster’s approach to minimising this impact.
Printed media environmental impact
The impact of marketing and the resources it uses has been under the spotlight for a long time. Reducing printed materials and the impact of the processes used to create them have seen constant change, with the increased use of recycled materials, eco-friendly inks such as vegetable-based and the overhaul of the power sources the paper mills are using, great work has been done in minimising the ecological footprint of the printed sector.
Find out more about our print design
Web’s impact on the environment
The web however, has gone under the radar as ever-larger and more complicated websites and digital channels have increased the impact on the environment. When it comes to websites, there are a number of main areas that impact the environment.
A recent article by the BBC found one fashion website generated almost 10g of carbon, every time someone accessed their homepage!
The key factors when assessing the carbon footprint of a website are:
- The combined file size of the website
- The amount of power needed to load and run the website
- The power source used by the servers the site is hosted on
By understanding these factors, we are able to assess the environmental impact of a website and take steps to minimise its ecological footprint.
File size & loading of the website
The larger a website, the more resources required to manage, load and operate the website. Thankfully there are several ways to reduce the size of a website and have a positive effect on the environmental impact of the site. Each time a website is accessed by a user, it is drawing data from the server it is hosted on, using resources to facilitate that data transfer. Minimising this data transfer is a sure-fire way to reduce the impact of a website.
Cleaner code for efficiency
Reducing “bloated code” and ensuring it is running as efficiently as possible is a great way to reduce the impact of the site loading. Recently we were able to add improvement to a clients website that reduced its homepage file size by over 35%, drastically reducing loading speed and resources required to load the page.
Image files & file types
Using the latest media formats and ensuring the images and videos are sized correctly are key to reducing the page load size. Uploaded images that are too large for the space they are being used in increases the amount of processing power needed to load and display them. Using the latest image formats is also a great way to reduce the impact of image files. We highly recommend file types such as .webp and .svg as these are the most efficient file formats widely available.
Remove auto-play
While the autoplaying of media can be a great way to drive engagement and interest in a page, loading video can also be one of the largest users of resources on a page. We recommend removing your auto-play features so that only those interested in video load the video and drastically reduce the amount of times a video is loaded and in turn, the amount of resources required to run the page each time it is loaded.
Power source of the servers
Alongside the size of a website, the servers the website is hosted on is also a key part of the impact of the site. Understanding how your server is powered and the impact is key to reducing the overall impact of both your website, but also your supply chain.
Each server provided should have an environmental impact statement and provide details of their power sources and environmental impact.
What are Oyster doing about it?
We are working with local businesses to assess the impact of Oyster on the local community and environment.
Find out more about last year's beach clean with the Final Straw Foundation
We are also looking to work with interested clients on optimising their website to reduce the environmental impact as much as possible. We understand the strive to be as eco-friendly as possible is an ever-moving finishing line as new technologies and research is released, however we will keep looking to educate and improve our practices and processes as much as possible.
For more information, we highly recomend checking out the eco-friendly web alliance website.
