What I wish more people understood about “greener” digital practices
I once sat explaining to a friend how the internet works. He wasn’t particularly technical, but he was curious, and we had time. I told him about servers, about data centers, about where files actually get stored when we upload them to the cloud. At one point he stopped me and asked whether the cloud actually existed in a specific place. I nodded. Yes, it does. Thousands of places, actually. Large buildings filled with servers, cooled by enormous air conditioning systems, powered by colossal amounts of electricity. He sat quietly for a moment. Then he said: “So it’s not just up in the air?”
It’s funny how language shapes our understanding of things. We talk about the cloud as if it’s something light, something fluid, something that doesn’t really take up space. But everything digital has a physical root. Every file, every video, every message gets stored somewhere, and it takes power to keep these places running. As I mentioned in my book Sustainable Web Design In 20 Lessons: If the internet were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest electricity consumers, surpassed only by China, the USA, and India. This isn’t to scare anyone, but to establish a fundamental understanding that what we build, what we design, what we code, has a physical consequence, even when we can’t see it.
The Stereotype: The Environmental Fanatic in the Room
There’s a scene I know all too well. I’m sitting in a meeting with a new person, and the conversation turns toward my approach to web development. I mention sustainability, and there’s always a brief moment, a small split second, where I can see something shift in the person’s gaze. Not something negative, not directly at least, but there’s a noticeable change. As if they need to place me in a specific category. Am I Greta Thunberg? Am I a climate activist? Am I about to preach about how they should change their lives?
The funny thing is, I’m neither holding signs nor shouting slogans. I’m just interested in building an internet that doesn’t collapse under its own weight. But the stereotype is still there. Sustainability often sounds like something extreme, something only particularly dedicated people engage with, and it makes it difficult to talk about the subject without being put in a box. I can understand it. There’s a perception that if you’re interested in the environment, you’re automatically also someone who lives on oatmeal and never flies. That it’s more of a lifestyle than a professional discipline.
But that’s exactly what I want to challenge. Because sustainability in web design isn’t about being an activist. It’s about being proper, and about building with care.
What Sustainable Web Design Actually Is
When I talk about sustainable web design, people often think it’s only about reducing CO2 emissions. And that’s part of it, absolutely. But it’s far from the whole story. In reality, sustainability is a broad concept that reaches beyond the environment and deep into how people actually use the internet. It’s about accessibility, about inclusion, and about building an internet that can be used by everyone, not just those with the fastest connection or the newest phone.
A website that’s heavy and slow doesn’t just use more power. It also excludes people. It excludes people with poor internet connections, people in areas where data is expensive, people with older devices that can’t handle the heavy scripts and images. And when we talk about accessibility, we’re also talking about people with disabilities who need websites to be properly structured, text that can be read by screen readers, navigation that’s logical and consistent. All these things are connected. A green internet that no one can use is just as meaningless as an accessible internet that guzzles energy like an old diesel engine.
When I started getting interested in sustainability, it was the environmental aspect that caught me first. But the deeper I dug, the clearer it became that this isn’t a niche. It’s the foundation for how we should think about design and development. It’s about respecting the user, respecting their resources, and respecting the planet. Not as three separate goals, but as parts of the same whole.
Why It Requires Diving Deeper
I remember when I first encountered the concept of sustainable web design. I had read an article about how much power the internet uses, and I was fascinated. But fascination wasn’t enough. Understanding didn’t come immediately. It required time, reading, and reflection. I had to learn about energy consumption in data centers, about how different programming languages and frameworks affect performance, about how to optimize images without losing quality, about which hosting solutions actually use renewable energy.
It was a long dive, and I’m still not at the bottom. That’s the thing about sustainability: it’s not one thing, but many things that are connected. It’s not enough to know that you should compress images. You also need to understand why. Not just because it makes the page faster, but because it reduces the amount of data that needs to be sent, and therefore the energy used on both the server and the user’s device. And then you need to remember at the same time that compression mustn’t compromise accessibility, because poorly compressed images can be difficult to see for people with visual impairments.
There’s no shortcut. It requires curiosity, and it requires the willingness to see beyond the surface. But this is also where the work becomes meaningful. Because once you understand the connections, and how small decisions in the code can have big consequences in the real world, you can’t ignore it anymore. Not because you have to be an activist, but because as a professional you can’t avoid taking responsibility for what you build.
An Internet with Care
There’s a tendency in our industry to see development as something that has to move fast. Features need to ship, deadlines need to be met, and quality is often measured by whether it works, not whether it works well. But if we pause for a moment and think about what we’re actually building, it’s not just products or services. It’s the infrastructure that billions of people use every day. It’s the space where we communicate, work, learn, entertain ourselves. These aren’t small things.
Building with care isn’t about making things slower or harder. It’s about being conscious, and about asking the right questions. Do we really need this script? Can we optimize this function? Is this design accessible? Are we using resources wisely? These are small adjustments, but they make a difference. Not just for the planet, but for people, and for those who actually have to use what we build.
Sustainable web design isn’t for fanatics. It’s not just for those who love the environment. It’s for everyone who wants to help shape an internet that lasts. An internet that doesn’t collapse under its own weight. An internet that serves everyone, not just those with the newest devices or the fastest connections. And that’s exactly why it matters. Not because it’s trendy, or because it looks good on a CV, but because it’s the way we should be building.
I know it’s not always easy, and that there’s pressure, deadlines, and budgets. But if we don’t start taking this seriously now, it will only get harder. Because the internet is growing. Traffic is increasing. Consumption is increasing. And if we don’t change the way we build, we’ll end up with an internet that becomes heavier, slower, more exclusive, and more energy-intensive year after year.
So this isn’t a rallying cry. It’s not a pointed finger. It’s an invitation. To think differently. To build differently. To help create an internet that doesn’t just work, but works well for everyone.