Your digital footprint may be a lot bigger than you realise, and digital emissions are on the rise.
Manufacturing and distributing hardware and digital architecture requires large amounts of energy, as does the running and chilling of servers powered by local grids. Storing your data is what causes servers to draw so much energy and as the ammount of data we store is only increasing, we thought it could be a good idea to reduce what we can’t remove from our digital carbon footprint.
The yearly digital carbon footprint of a firm’s IT system user is roughly 1737 pounds of carbon dioxide. This is comparable to the pollution produced by travelling 1,926 miles by car. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat energy within the Earth’s atmosphere, essentially causing climate change. The good news is that there are a few simple ways to reduce our carbon footprint.
Here are some tips and tricks to get you started.
Switch to Environmentally Conscious Cloud Services
Companies such as Azure and Google are great options if you are hoping to find an eco-friendly cloud service. Salesforce too, pride themselves on their enviromently friendly cloud SaaS tools.
This is because these companies operate using renewable sources of energy, which effectively reduces carbon emissions. Digital business owners should make this change throughout their organization because it can have a significant environmental impact.
Download Content Instead of Streaming
Streaming content such as music, videos, and movies increases your digital carbon footprint. If you choose to download instead of streaming, the content will only be retrieved from the server once.
As per Greenpeace’s Click Clean Report, certain streaming sites do a better job of reducing their environmental impact than others, so if you choose to stream, ensure that you are using an environmentally conscious service.
Switch to Green Hosting
Website hosting can also create an extensive digital footprint because of the digital infrastructure required to run these servers and networks. However, by switching to companies that have made a commitment to lowering their global carbon emissions, you can reduce your digital footprint.
Change Power Settings
A much simpler way to lower energy usage is by encouraging your employees to put their computers or laptops on hibernation or sleep mode when not in use. Shutting your computer down can save even more energy, reducing carbon emissions by up to 83 percent.
Change Your Search Engine
Did you know that there is a search engine called Ecosia that donates 80 percent of its profits to reforestation? This means that by supporting this search engine, you effectively help to plant trees.
Trees remove carbon dioxide from the air and replace it with the oxygen we need to breathe, effectively reducing carbon emissions. This means that you can help to reduce carbon dioxide in the air just by switching your search engine!
Reduce the Brightness of Your Monitor
Working on a computer monitor with a screen brightness of 100 percent can cause strain to your eyes, so reducing your brightness doesn’t just help save the environment, but it can also help save your eyes.
You can reduce your energy usage by up to 20 percent when you reduce your brightness to 70 percent. When done by a group of people in an organization, it can have a massive positive impact on the environment.
Block Autoplay Features
Another good way to prevent energy wastage is by blocking autoplay features. This can help to prevent energy wastage while browsing the internet. Some search engines, such as Firefox, have this feature blocked by default, so you can use them instead if you don’t know how to change your settings.
Choose Environmentally Friendly Tech Providers
Consider who you collaborate with in terms of technology and analyze their environmental practices. Think about the steps they’re taking currently to improve their sustainability and whether they have committed to reducing their environmental impact and finding renewable energy sources.
Final Thoughts
Businesses are responsible for much of the carbon emission that has been causing climate change and having a negative effect on our environment. The truth is that small changes made by individuals may not eliminate our carbon emission problems.
However, small changes made by a large number of people on a regular basis can change the world, which is why we devised this list of handy ways for companies to reduce their carbon emissions!
If you are a business owner, we encourage you to implement small changes throughout your organisation. By leading by example, you can help your employees become conscious of the consequences their actions can have on the environment.
This can have a ripple effect, with more people showing interest in environmentally conscious operations. The truth is that small changes today could lead to significant changes in the future.
