After over a year of navigating the pandemic, the world has seen an influx of small (and larger) companies hopping onto the eCommerce train. If you add to that those that lost their jobs along the way and have taken the opportunity to start their own business, you’re looking at thousands of more people using the internet (and technology overall) during their workday. It makes sense. The internet has been and still is, the future of business. However, with this rise in online ventures, there’s also a rise in possible negative consequences. Mainly, an increase in carbon digital footprints.

What is a Carbon Digital Footprint?

As of 2019, 4.1 billion people worldwide have access to the Internet. This means that any time someone watches a tutorial on YouTube, Google’s information for their school project, or sends an email to their boss, high amounts of energy are being used. If the concept of a carbon footprint means the amount of CO₂ emissions created by humans in their daily life, then carbon digital footprints look at the amounts of CO₂ emissions created from excessive energy waste specifically.
Digital carbon footprints are a direct consequence of the amounts of electricity used to, among other things, keep an eCommerce site running. From keeping your router on to using your laptop, the infrastructure needed to support these information transactions (both at a commercial and residential scale) consume incredible amounts of energy.

How Does it Affect Your Business?

The most straightforward answer to this question would be that it can cost your business large amounts of money! If a large percentage of your company budget is being used on energy costs, that’s money that could be refunneled into other areas by simply cutting down on your digital carbon footprint.
A big way you could be losing money, for example, is via streaming. In comparison to sending a text-only email or using a search engine, video and music streaming uses 75% of the global data traffic. This means that watching videos in real-time on YouTube or Netflix is responsible for the majority of the digital energy use due to the large data sizes required.
If you find yourself normally watching how to build your own website on YouTube, you might want to check the next section below, to see how you can make changes to improve your digital carbon footprint.

How Can You Improve Your Carbon Digital Footprint?

• Reduce your video streaming by downloading what you need to watch instead. If this isn’t an option, try streaming at a lower resolution instead.
• Be sure to clear out your e-mail box periodically in order to reduce the energy needed for data storage.
• If possible, try sourcing the energy used for your business via renewable sources like solar panels for electricity.
• Turn off and unplug your equipment when not in use. Even when not turned on, electronic devices such as your computer monitor still consume energy that’s going to waste since it’s not stored for future use.
• Not directly related to your digital footprint, but still as important is the update of your electronic devices. Think about your smartphone or laptop, for starters. Do you update them any time a new model comes out? By updating them too often, you’re creating more physical and non-recyclable waste. Using your equipment for its full life cycle allows you to save money and create less of a carbon footprint.

If you need further advice on this, please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation session.