5 ways we used sustainable web design in the development of our new website.
Embracing sustainable web design doesn’t only help to enhance sustainability performance, but also contributes to a wider climate action, helping to build a low-carbon ICT ecosystem.
Websites are a bit like shoes; over time they wear out, and even the best websites eventually need to be replaced. In 2023, our website was due for a refresh.
Our primary concern was increasing the loading speed. Little did we know that in our quest to resolve slow loading pages, we’d discover a solution that not only improved speed but also created a low-emission, accessible and stylish platform.
The concept of sustainable website design was new to us, even though our primary business relates to sustainability as we are a company dedicated to advancing the marine, maritime and offshore renewable energy sectors.
During conversations with the web developers at Our Side, we discovered that sustainable web design looks at reducing energy use and enhancing accessibility. Resource optimisation, energy efficiency and inclusivity are its key principles and we found that this aligned closely with the values of our business at BlueWise Marine. So, we decided to give it a go.
After months of work, we are thrilled to reveal our new website and share a few insights from our journey.
1. Every little bit helps
The carbon footprint from gadgets, the internet and the system supporting them are currently responsible for 3.7% of global emissions – that’s higher than aviation! In fact, in 2021 scientists estimated that if the internet was a country, it would be the 4th largest global polluter. With the development of AI and the growing trends in data, future energy demands for information processing are only going to increase.
Changing the entire internet may seem like an overwhelming challenge, but companies, regardless of size, can initiate change starting with their own websites. Sustainable web design offers a solution by optimising digital operations to reduce energy consumption. Through employing minimalistic lightweight coding, streamlining structural elements, and reducing the size of images and multimedia, it minimizes the data exchanged over the internet to operate websites. Consequently, this decreases energy usage by servers and network infrastructures.
So, embracing sustainable web design doesn’t only help to enhance sustainability performance, but also contributes to a wider climate action, helping to build a low-carbon ICT ecosystem.
2. Simplify
If you struggle to visualise how sustainable web-design looks in practice, the concept of minimalism can help. Minimalism in design prioritizes purposefulness, visual hierarchy, restricted colour pallets, negative spaces and clear proportions.
When applied to a website, the focus on energy efficiency translates into clear information structure and page organisation, focusing on content and functionality.
Carefully choosing visual elements contributes to stronger brand identity. For instance, during our website redesign, we transformed a portion of our logo into a central graphic element integrated into the background of all pages. Rather than incorporating an introductory video or colourful images on our home page, we opted for clear, accessible messages about our services, utilising words and fonts as both visual and communication tools.
We applied a similar “less is more” approach to the structure of our website, slimming down the number of tabs in the navigation menu, the length of pages, even the number of buttons, reducing the size of the website overall. It is like decluttering your home or wardrobe. Try it with your website, it might just leave you feeling lighter and more focused.
3. Dim the lights
The fact that bright colours, especially white, use the highest amount of energy was perhaps the biggest surprise of our web re-design journey. In 2018, the Google research team publicised their insights about the relationship between colour and power consumption, revealing that a completely white screen uses around six times the energy of an entirely black screen on OLED devices. They also found that blue is twice as energy demanding as red and green. Try it for yourself by switching your phone to dark mode – does the battery last longer now?
While a black-green-red colour palette may not suit every brand, there are energy-efficient alternatives that still convey your brand identity. We adopted this approach when selecting colours for our new website, opting for shades like asphalt, midnight blue, and muted versions of teal and sky blue. When a white contrast was necessary, we utilised light grey, which offers sufficient visibility alongside darker hues. Similarly, if your branding typically features white backgrounds, substituting them with tinted colours aligned with your branding can significantly reduce energy consumption.
For us, embracing a darker palette was a bold decision with promising results. Currently, our website produces 97% less carbon than other pages tested by the Website Carbon Calculator, not to mention that we believe our new look reduces eye strain for our visitors and drains less battery from their devices.
4. Put people first
Sustainable web-design goes beyond energy efficiency, fostering a more inclusive digital environment.
By adhering to web accessibility standards such as WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines), sustainable websites ensure that everyone can access and interact with digital content effectively. This involves designing interfaces that are accessible and robust for all users, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. Moreover, sustainable web design emphasises user-centred approaches, producing intuitive designs where information is easy to find and to consume. In this context, low energy demand serves as an inclusivity enhancer, enabling full interaction with the website even in areas with slow internet connections.
In addition to employing a less visually straining colour scheme, our website incorporates various accessibility features, such as larger font sizes on both desktop and mobile platforms, extended line spacing, consistent navigation, image descriptions, and readability optimisation. These enhancements not only improve user experience but also support our SEO strategy, ensuring our content reaches a broader audience.
5. Next stop: green hosting
Naturally, switching your website to a server run on renewable energy is the next step on the way to digital decarbonisation. However, what appears straightforward in theory presents a complex challenge in practice. While a simple search yields several green hosting options, as a company deeply entrenched in renewable energy development, ensuring complete certainty about the sourcing of energy for our hosting is crucial. This is where the challenge lies.
Some green hosting providers claim to offset their emissions by purchasing carbon credits from non-profits engaged in tree planting or other carbon sequestration activities. However, this offsetting approach has faced scrutiny for failing to deliver the promised emissions reductions and for associated human rights violations. Moreover, recent EU regulations have tightened requirements for products and services claiming to be “climate neutral” or “climate positive.” Given these concerns, relying on hosting that employs carbon offsetting was not a suitable option for our business.
Another green hosting alternative we explored revolves around certified data centres. These certifications, conducted by governments or third-party companies, assess a broader range of sustainability indicators, including building energy efficiency, eco-friendly materials usage, cooling system optimisation and waste reduction. While renewable energy use is among these parameters, conversations with hosting company representatives revealed they are unable to guarantee that energy usage comes entirely from renewable sources. Unless a data center operates its own renewable energy facilities or the grid they buy energy from is completely decarbonised, claiming 100% green hosting remains challenging.
Through our research into green hosting, we learnt about the Green Web Foundation that maintains a list of verified green hosting providers. It is a good place to start.
While the ideal hosting solution may not yet exist, our journey has sparked meaningful discussions and encouraged us to strive for higher standards and our quest for truly green hosting continues.
Find out more about our work and explore our services.
