Can the websites we design and develop be green? We’re not talking about CSS and HEX values; it’s a common question arising more and more from eco-cautious clients. Is one website really any friendlier to the environment than another and is there anything from conception that we can do to help contribute? As Earth Day is next week, now seems to an appropriate time to discuss green web design.
When discussing the topic of green, we always have to remember that the discussion is typically around how to be more environmentally aware while still keeping cost, performance and quality top-of-mind. We all love the idea of an electric car; but no one is interested in such a car that can drive less than a mile on a single charge, holds only one person at less than 120 lbs and costs more than $1,000,000.00. There is also a strong distinction between an electric car, a hybrid and a car that is just more eco-friendly than the version before it. These same distinctions exist across all industries — even web design.
The environmental impact of a single website is relatively insignificant but there are things that can make a website more green. There are essentially three high-level elements that together create a website: the tools, the team and the host.
The Tools
The typical arsenal of tools for creating a website is a computer, graphics program and a text editor. Theoretically, websites, or the creation thereof, can be eco-friendly from the tools used to create them — recycled computers and systems, parts and software optimized specifically for low-energy usage are greener than their brand new, overpowered and energy-hungry counterparts. But then of course the reality of cost, performance and quality set-in. Recycled and refurbished computers are great machines, they however just don’t always have the performance and up-to-date technology required of web designer and developers. The same is said for the software we use as well. While there is currently no marketed eco-friendly web design and development software, the reality is that the cost of using such programs over our industry favorites (standards) would most likely not have a proper time/cost benefit.
Apple has always been a favorite of our industry, while arguably excessively expensive, its latest generation of MacBook Pros are said to be the greenest notebooks on the market. Apple touts several green features, including recyclable aluminum and glass chassis, BFR-free internal components (the very same toxic flame retardants that once condemned Apple's green ratings), ENERGY STAR certification, mercury-free, longer-lasting and lower-energy LED-backlights, Arsenic-free glass, PVC-free internal cables, and the EPEAT Gold rating. Apple also has a free recycling program, allowing its customers to return older unused machines (regardless of manufacturer) to be recycled and disposed of properly.
Apple is helping us feel better about the machines we are already working on; but the reality is that there is very little from our tools that can make a website more green than another; when buying your next machine, it is something to think about.
The Team
We are the talent behind the design and development of a website, don’t our actions themselves have an environmental impact? Must we print the twenty-page PDF creative-brief, must we print a copy for every member of the team? Are we sending printed invoices and proposals when PDFs will do? Do we recycle the waste that is accumulated as a result, are our teams eco-aware and is our working environment embracing of such an initiative? Not all design agencies and development firms need to go overboard, but being aware of the energy consumed as well as the waste accumulated is absolutely a first start in creating greener websites.
We also control the technology and interactions of a website that may have environmental impacts. We all love to show off our print style sheets with a cute little print icon, but is that sending the wrong message? Are we encouraging audiences to unnecessarily print websites? Both an environmental and usability issue is to ensure that only the minimum and relevant information is actually being printed. In our ever-evolving eco-cautious culture, this for some becomes an opportunity to educate. Most won’t consider the environmental impact until reminded to do so. It seems slightly hypocritical that Discovery’s Planet Green, an eco-lifestyle network, even has a “print” function – we’d hope that they would use the educational medium to advocate web users to reconsider printing website content. TreeHugger.com for example has removed the typical “print” link; they still have a print style sheet, they simply just don’t promote printing the way Discovery does.
Best practices on the web are an amazing thing, as by definition, they promote the right values. Typically we discuss inherent values such as better accessibility and search engine optimization; but the reality is that optimized sites also process and download faster, have quicker performance and ultimately require less energy usage. Again, not that much impact on an individual basis, but it adds up!
As the designers and developers of websites, our actions do most certainly play a role in creating more environmentally friendly websites. We do also have the ability, the power (the responsibility?), to help control and educate the users of our websites in an effort to be more green.
The Host
And here it is. A web host is the single greatest place where a website can strive to be more green than another; well beyond its conception, design and development. According to Green Data Center Info, by 2020 the web hosting industry will surpass the airline industry as carbon emitters.
Many web hosts have initiated and participate in green programs from Renewable Energy Certificates (ensuring that the power used is generated in an eco-friendly manner) to hosts that generate their own power directly from renewable sources. Some hosts even offer carbon offsetting, a tree planted on your behalf, discounts to non-profits and internal incentives such as letting their employees telecommute as well as providing solar power and paperless offices.
Some of the leaders in this space include:
- aiso.net – The world’s only 100% solar powered hosting and data center, “web hosting as nature intended it”.
- Sustainablewebsites.com – A 100% Carbon Neutral Web Hosting Community; with servers located in a green data centers and 100% offset of energy usage with Certified Wind Power.
- ThinkHost.com – Powered by wind and sun; they provide world class hosting powered by renewable energy.
- GreenestHost.com – 100% solar powered; offering zero emissions web hosting. They rely on Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset their non-renewable energy usage; powering all of their servers with 100% clean solar power 100% of the time.
- GreenGeeks.com -- The World's #1 Green Energy Web Hosting Provider. Green Geeks uses wind power for all of their servers, offices and office equipment.
We recommend checking out GreenHostingGeeks.com where they review what they consider to be the top eco-friendly hosting companies; including industry favorites such as DreamHost.
A Greener Web
When asked, “can a website be green?” the simple answer is that it essentially comes down to the efficiency of the application and the web host. That is where the greatest environmental impact lies; reducing the carbon footprint of our work as much as possible is where we can make a difference.
Antoine E Butler Sr
April 14th 2009
Very nice. I love it when companies find a cause to get behind. Going Green, wouldn’t be the first thing coming to mind in our industry. I think that fact in and of itself makes picking up the cause that much more of an impact.
I myself don’t even own a printer. I force myself to go to Kinko’s when I need to print or fax something. It’s a pain, but I’ll tell you this, I print far less than I would with a printer in office.
Nice write up.
ps. A little disappointed our beloved (mt) isn’t on that Green Host’s list.
Martin Ringlein
April 14th 2009
Antoine,
I was a bit surprised about MediaTemple as well; I did some searching around and couldn’t find any reference to any green initiatives.
For those Rails fans out there, Rackspace does have a Greenspace Initiative that looks interesting, it isn’t the best of the hosting initiatives but it is a start!
Greg
April 14th 2009
My company (a nonprofit webdev shop called CITI) did a lot of research into finding a Green Host to recommend to our clients. We looked at and surveyed a dozen different groups that were claiming to be green. AISO.net stood out as the most green, since they use a solar array to power everything, but we found that they just weren’t there yet as far as hosting is concerned on their shared accounts (no SSH, spotty FTP access, no remote mySQL connection - phpMyAdmin only). With the other hosts we surveyed (those you list and some more) we didn’t like the greenwashing that they seemed to be doing - being green just for the sake of marketing.
The survey we did was over a year ago and there are definitely a few more players on the scene now. Most recently, we’ve been looking into TapRoot as they seem to share our attitude about carbon offsets (not really green) and offer a better developer environment (ssh, etc.)
Micah Touchet
April 14th 2009
Great stuff. We actually adopted the “No printing if pdf will do” practice for internal memos, invoices, etc., a couple of years ago and it has proven to be a great route…
Martin Ringlein
April 14th 2009
Greg,
Yeah, like I said I think with everything eco, we have to take into consideration cost, performance and quality—green web hosts are getting better and better, but many are just not up-to-par with their carbon hog equivalents.
It does sort of scare me a bit to hear that within 10 years web hosts will be leaving a bigger carbon footprint than the entire airline industry—that really is something to consider.
Zach
April 14th 2009
Make your site run more effeciently, don’t just throw gobs of servers at it. Also, do all the crazy queries have to be run as often as they are? Maybe not, maybe cache them and you could get by with less processesing power and directly less machines.
Martin Ringlein
April 14th 2009
Optimization from the back-end is critical for sure.
Tim
April 15th 2009
After talking with AISO, they will be offering ruby on rails apps very soon, and the dont offer SSH access due to the fact of security and security compliance. As far as MySQL remotely, they offer it if you ask, they just put your IP into their firewall and your good to go. I would check them out, they have a 30 day money back guarantee and give them a call if you have any questions.
Martin Ringlein
April 16th 2009
Tim,
Thank you for the update regarding AISO, they seem like the leader in this Green hosting initiative.
Patrick Haney
April 17th 2009
I stumbled on the Ecofont a while back, based on Vera Sans and omits parts of each letter in order to save ink when it comes to printing on paper. It would be interesting to offer up a print stylesheet that embedded this typeface automatically since most people won’t have it installed by default.
Martin Ringlein
April 17th 2009
Patrick,
Wow, nice find—that is really interesting take on print style sheets. Now you’ve got me thinking again.
Josh Williams
April 18th 2009
Great article Martin. I agree, it’s pretty scary to think that web hosting will be creating a bigger carbon footprint than the airline industry in the next ten years. I really had no idea that we were approaching that level of energy use.
The EcoFont sounds like a great idea. Does anyone know if that’s available for @font-face embedding?
Martin Ringlein
April 19th 2009
Josh,
I would assume that the EcoFont can be used for @font-face embedding as it states that, “The Ecofont is based on an Open Source font and is free to use”.
Dave
April 22nd 2009
This is good stuff, and good conversation. The more-carbon-emissions-than-the-airline-industry thing is definitely scary.
When it comes to customers looking at your shop, the greener you operate as a company, the more we’ll believe that you’ll make decisions to support hosts and other companies you work with. We can ask specifically for the green stuff we know about, but we hope you’ll bring your own expertise and advice on how to pass the green up and down the food chain.
Don’t forget the simple stuff when it comes to running your office—cut down on the energy use, not just on the pages printed. Turn off your computers when you can, turn off the lights when you’re not using them. Keep the waste down, save on your own electric bills, and lighten the load on the fossil fuels burning at the power plant you’re getting your energy from. And you, as designers, can choose to get your power from renewable sources too—opt for that choice if your city’s electrical grid allows it.
Keep pushing, there’s always room to go more greener. The best news for everyone may be that in business practice, “greener” often equals “smarter.”
Tanner
April 22nd 2010
Solid advice. I would echo that it’s important to consider everything you can do to be “green” when building not only a website, but also when managing a design business or likewise. Cutting energy use at the office - as Dave stated - is just one small way to benefit the environment. Also: supporting green groups and companies is another thing web designers and developers can do, as mentioned under the ‘Hosting’ category.
A lot of small actions can add up to something big.
Makes you wonder what Google is doing to cut their emissions with the millions of servers they’re running.