A Carlisle business has become one of the first in the UK to have an accredited eco-friendly website.
Carlisle Brass has gone through the Eco-Friendly Web Alliance (EFWA) accreditation process, bringing their site beneath the recommended level of under one gram of carbon emissions per page view.
The EFWA’s board of scientific advisers recommend that websites should not emit more than one gram of CO2 per page view.
In line with those recommendations, the Carlisle Brass team has reduced its website’s page size and optimised it further – a process termed “eco-optimisation”.
They worked with the company, which is one of the UK’s most established specialised developer of door and window furniture, to audit the website and ensure the page fell beneath that threshold.
They will now undergo regular audits to ensure the site remains eco-friendly.
The EFWA argues that if even a fraction of the world’s websites changed to keep their page size low and optimised, potentially millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions could be prevented from entering the atmosphere.
It is estimated that 10 per cent of the world’s electricity is consumed by the internet, a figure which is projected to increase as more of the world comes online and dependence on the web increases.
Energy consumed by the internet includes data centres, electricity used by end-user devices like phones, computers and tablets and transmission networks.
Now that Carlisle Brass has gone through the optimisation and accreditation process, it has received an EFWA kitemark which appears on the company’s home page.
Shane Herath, Chair of the Eco-Friendly Web Alliance, said: “People tend not to think of the internet as something which contributes to climate change.
“But the amount of electricity it consumes is staggering, and unless we find a way to make that sustainable it will be increasingly difficult for the world to meet its climate change targets.
“It’s especially important that companies in e-commerce who depend on their website for doing business have a sustainable approach.
“If websites are getting high volumes of traffic as part of their business model, it’s even more important that every time someone visits their page this does not result in excessive energy use.
“The work done by Carlisle Brass in reducing this impact is a great example for other businesses in e-commerce to follow.
“If this is replicated on a large scale, significantly positive steps will be taken towards achieving net zero.
“By reducing the page size of a website, businesses and other organisations can lessen the amount of energy consumed every time someone clicks on their website.
“That may sound like a small contribution, but there are nearly two billion websites in the world, some of which receive huge volumes of traffic.
“If even a fraction of these optimised and reduced page size, we could prevent millions of tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere.
“We were delighted to work with such an established business in Carlisle Brass, who can now demonstrate to other businesses and organisations in the city and beyond that their website is one which is environmentally friendly.”
Angus Grant, managing director of Carlisle Brass, said: “We are thrilled to announce that the Carlisle Brass website has been certified as environmentally friendly by the EFWA.
“It means our website emits less than one gram of CO2 per page view, and that is something that’s very important to us.
“The carbon footprint of the internet is growing exponentially and organisations can take responsibility to reduce the emissions of their websites and digital platforms and transition towards carbon neutrality.
“The EFWA is working with websites everywhere to help create a more sustainable digital world, and we are really proud to be part of that journey with this new accreditation.
“This is something that we’d definitely recommend to businesses and other organisations in and around Carlisle.”
