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Digital pollution
Digital pollution refers to all forms of pollution generated by the IT sector (greenhouse gases, production of electronic waste, etc.). There is digital pollution generated by the manufacture of a product, but also that generated by its use.
Numerous studies show that digital uses are responsible for 4% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and this figure will only increase in the years to come.
Although it is difficult to imagine that an intangible product such as a website can have an environmental impact, it is true that a carbon emission is produced every time a person visits a site, due to the many resources that make up the site.
Web eco-design
As website builders, we have a role to play in digital pollution. At MV Studio, we are aware of this. That's why our development techniques are constantly evolving to deliver ever more efficient websites with less ecological impact.
What makes a website "eco-friendly" is the way it is thought out and designed! The choice of technology, the development techniques and the weight of the media are all elements that influence the carbon emission of a website.
Methodology
In order to make our websites more energy efficient and reduce our digital impact, we have put in place several lines of action covering the entire design process, from the graphic design phase to development.
Beyond the environmental impact, all these optimisations will have a positive effect on the performance of the site, its speed and its referencing. All the more reason to apply eco-design from the very beginning of the project.
1. Choice of hosting
We chose the hosting provider AWS whose data centres are designed to minimise their (and therefore our) environmental footprint.
2. Favouring clean designs
Simplicity is the key word, not only for the carbon footprint, but also for a better user experience thanks to information presented and structured in a clear and precise way.
3. Simplified site
We make the site lighter and remove superfluous features.
We offer the client what he needs. As opposed to what they want (the What), the objectives and results are met but the way to achieve them is through our expertise (the How). In this way, we simplify and optimise the website.
4. Optimised CMS
The way the site is built influences its energy expenditure. This is why, whatever the technology chosen, we make sure to rework the CMS to offer our clients a functional site, optimised at the back-end level and composed of functions strictly necessary for the site.
5. Reduce calls to the database
We optimise DB queries to improve database performance.
6. Weight of the media
All added media are compressed and resized to optimise their weight: too small = pixelated, too large = too heavy, too energy consuming.
In addition, we use "lazy load", which means that the media are only loaded when they need to be called up in the web page.
In this continuity, during the client training phase, we make the site administrator aware of the importance of being an actor in his site, and therefore of his carbon footprint: not uploading images or PDFs that are too heavy, using video streaming sparingly, centralising emails on a single address when possible, etc.
7. Minimising resources
We minimize CSS and JavaScript files to make them lighter: remove spaces, line breaks, comments, ...
8. Choice of frameworks
Some frameworks are power-hungry, and sometimes non-essential.
Take the example of the JQuery framework, a library that simplifies coding in JavaScript, but which we have nevertheless separated internally on our recent projects in order to maximise the optimisation of our sites.
A concrete case: The MV Studio website
The websitecarbon simulation tool makes it easy to calculate the carbon footprint of a website. Although this site does not show a detailed audit, it is ideal for getting an overview of the overall performance of the site and the host.
Take our MV Studio website for example: as you can see below, our website is 87% "cleaner" than the sites that have been tested on this platform. In other words, each time a visitor visits our site, only 0.13 grams of CO2 are produced.
At MV Studio we apply this eco-design approach, keeping in mind to build an efficient mix between the will to make the website eco-responsible and the company's stakes.
Do you want to participate in digital sustainability with an eco-responsible website or reduce the carbon impact of your current website? Then contact us!
