Cambridge University Press & Assessment has launched a new Sustainable Web Design guide, in partnership with sustainable web experts Wholegrain Digital, to raise awareness and share best practice for reducing digital carbon emissions.
The Sustainable Web Guide has been developed to help ensure web projects are energy efficient and produce the least amount of carbon emissions possible in support of the organisation’s commitment to sustainability, which includes being carbon zero on all energy-related emissions by 2048.
The guide includes sections on benchmarking, design, content, development and hosting, and refers to Cambridge’s sustainable design principles; ‘sustainable thinking’, ‘inclusive design’, and ‘carbon efficiency’. It is publicly available for anyone to access and use.
The internet’s impact on the environment is often overlooked due to the terms used to describe it, such as ‘virtual’ and ‘the cloud’, which make it sound like something that doesn’t physically exist.
However, the internet is currently responsible for 1.4 percent of global emissions and consumes 4 percent of global electricity - gas emissions equal to, or greater than, the aviation industry - due to the physical infrastructure that spans the entire globe, including data centers, telecom networks and billions of connected devices like smartphones, laptops, and smart TVs.
Click here to read the original press release.
