It may come as a surprise to learn that the paperless world is actually pretty hard on forests. Think for a moment about how much power all of your devices use, and you’ll start to get the picture. Electricity may be invisible, but its consequences are very real.
Today, the internet has surpassed the environmental impact of aviation. And it’s growing.
Which brings us to carbon-neutral websites. They play an important role in reducing CO2 emissions and make a direct contribution to a greener environment.
It’s all about the math. There are standard calculations that determine how much CO2 is emitted into nature by a given amount of power. A website consumes power for servers, PCs, screens, a modem, etc., and visitors to the website also add to its power consumption.
By adding up website hits and page views, we can calculate how much CO2 a website emits and offset it with increased carbon sequestration somewhere else in the world.
For us, the math for 2021 works out to the equivalent of removing 4.4 cars from the road every year. That 20.16 metric tonnes. We buy credits to reach carbon neutral, then we invest an equal amount in reforestation efforts to reach carbon negative. That’s 40.32 metric tonnes… gone. Poof.
Because with great power (use) comes great responsibility.