Every website on the internet is hosted on a web server which is switched on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These machines process large amounts of data and consume a constant stream of electricity whilst functioning. The production of this electricity, which is generated in power plants, results in large amounts of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas held responsible for global warming, being released into the atmosphere.
Websites can seem like quite abstract, ethereal entities that live 'somewhere in cyberspace', but like pretty much everything we do in modern life, they create carbon emissions. Which is why we signed up with COCO2 to offset our website carbon emissions. What does this mean? Carbon Offsetting is the method by which you can minimise your impact on the environment through global warming. For every one ton of CO2 your activities produce, you can enable one ton to be saved somewhere else in the world.
This is done through projects such as planting trees, creating wind farms or investing in renewable energy projects throughout the world. For example, if your website needs electricity that emits half a ton of CO2 per year, then COCO2 could plant trees that offset that effect by taking half a ton of CO2 out of the atmosphere.
As a business we are nowhere near to being carbon neutral, but we’ve working on it. Here are some handy tips on what you can do to reduce your impact at home.
