An innovative tool created by researchers from the University of Exeter in collaboration with Madeby.studio, called Digital Impact for Species, is capable of analyzing any website, revealing its hidden ecological costs that go beyond standard metrics of carbon, water, and energy.
“When we visit a website, we rarely think about its impact on the environment,” notes Dr. Marcos Oliveira Jr., the project lead from the University of Exeter.
“However, there is a cost: from the energy required to transmit data from the data center to your device, to the water used for cooling servers,” he adds.
How do websites impact the environment?
To find out how eco-friendly a website is, simply enter its URL into the calculator. It will provide a rating from A+ to F, as well as information about its impact on nature.
For example, YouTube.com, which processes billions of requests monthly, received a C rating, indicating room for improvement in its eco-friendliness. Each view on this site generates 0.249 g of CO2, uses 0.0011 liters of water, and requires 0.62 Wh of energy.
Thus, 9,000 monthly visits require 10 liters of water — enough to sustain a capuchin monkey for 77 days. Additionally, to absorb this amount of CO2, a tree in the Amazon rainforest would need 41 days.
These same 9,000 visits consume 6 kWh of energy, equivalent to the daily consumption of 1,000 Anna's hummingbirds over 332 days.
“The goal of the project is not to condemn websites with a high carbon footprint, but to engage people and initiate a discussion about how to create a more sustainable internet,” emphasizes Dr. Oliveira Jr.
How is a website's ecological footprint determined?
The calculator uses Google PageSpeed Insights to measure the total size of all resources loaded when opening pages. If access to PageSpeed is unavailable, the average page weight for the industry is applied.
This weight includes all files loaded when visiting the site, such as images, text, and video. A larger page size requires more energy for transmission and processing, leading to increased emissions.
The tool then uses information from the Green Web Foundation to determine whether the site is hosted on servers powered by renewable energy or fossil fuels.
Using the Sustainable Web Design model, it calculates CO2 emissions as well as energy and water consumption per page visit.
This data is transformed into “visual comparisons with nature,” using species databases based on scientific research.
How to reduce a website's ecological footprint?
Users can significantly reduce their ecological footprint by decreasing the frequency of search queries and shifting responsibility to website owners and their hosting.
Research shows that using fewer images, limiting fonts, simplifying navigation, and avoiding video when possible are quick ways to reduce the internet's ecological impact.
“Green” hosting powered by renewable energy, as well as code optimization and adherence to SEO recommendations, can also help users find the pages they need more quickly.
