Posted by Elizabeth Hughes on September 22, 2010 12:19 pm      0 Comments

During August 2010 the very first International Conference on Green Computing, which addressed "key issues and topics related to energy efficiency in computing and promoting environmentally friendly computer technologies and systems." took place. This may be news to many of you our online activities have an impact on our Carbon Footprint, and the ICGC addressed ways in which computers could have a positive effect on the well-being of our environment. One of the ways in which UK businesses can help IT contribute to improving the welfare of our world is through a new Web Design trend - Green Web Design.

In today's economy there are very few businesses that aren't committed to corporate social responsibility, and there is no doubt that your business isn't one of them. But while you make every effort to be green in your physical activities, can you say the same for your online activities? How big an impact does your web presence have on the welfare of our environment?

 

• The internet weighs on average 56grams, but takes up to fifty-million horsepower to run (Source: Smashing Magazine)

• Each 140 character Tweet sent through Twitter emits approximately 0.02 grams of CO2 into the atmosphere (Source: Gigaom)

• Since 2003 the size of an average webpage has quintupled in size, going from 93.7K to over 507K (Source: Smashing Magazine)

• Viewing a simple webpage generates approximately 20mg of CO2 per second (Source: Smashing Magazine)

There are numerous ways in which business owners like yourselves can be accountable for the impact of your web presence, and one of the ways is through using a CO2 measuring tool. Dr Wissner-Gross has co-founded a unique online CO2 calculator - CO2 Stats - which allows web designers to build sites that are "greener in an accountable way". CO2 Stats measures "not just the servers (used for your website), but the visitors’ computers while they are on your site and the networks that connect them". Best of all CO2 Stats is free to use, and becoming a "Green Certified Site" could increase your site traffic and emotionally engage your site visitors.

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