Reducing the internets CO2 levels
Websites demand energy and emit carbon emissions, we can lower it by making leaner and more user-friendly solutions. But how might a UX designer tackle this job?
UX designer
2023
Master's thesis
Challenge
Designing for lower CO2 emissions on websites is a fairly undiscovered topic. Especially on how to work with it as a UX designer.
Results
Experiments that aim to discover and create understanding of green web design.
What are digital emissions
Digital emissions are defined by the carbon emitted from digital activities such as visiting a website, streaming videos, and messaging.
CO2 emissions associated with websites and applications comes from the energy cost of the user’s device, the cost of transferring data across the network and storing data on servers.
How to decrease digital emissions
Testing existing solutions - before ideating
I prefer to test as early as possible. In this case I tested solutions that are similar to concepts that try to save on digital emissions.
"I can't say its made me more sustainable, but at least more aware."
Co-creation with expert
Eivind Skogen is an expert on digital emissions. I invited him to participate in a workshop to create early ideas within the topic. Some common topics were:
Nudge through numbers
Give numbers context
Think larger than on an individual scale
Screenshot from recording
The workshop inspired a total of four experiments that paved way for conversation
Experiment 1 - Lighter websites
Can a webshop save emissions by limiting itself to illustrations? As illustrations are less heavy than images of clothing.
Homepage
Browsing page
Takeaway
“Are you guaranteeing that the financial perfomance will stay the same?” - Rob Price
Improved UX
Faster loading speeds
Increased SEO
Experiment 2 - Cleaning the cloud
We are all guilty of having a few too many images on the cloud. How can we make sure to reduce our personal CO2 emissions?
Userflow
Delete before uploading
Takeaway
Most of the energy usage comes from transfering to and from the cloud, so it would be more interesting to avoid unecessary uploads instead of deleting afterwards - Łukasz Mastalerz
"Spend energy on the content that matter" - Eivind Skogen
Experiment 3 - Visualizing digital emissions
How can we know how many digital emissions our devices cause? This experiment aims to visualize the damage and explain what it means, by giving the numbers a context.
Dashboard for the average internet user
The dashboard should be considered in other contexts, as it is not believed to create enough engagement with users. - Insight from a sparring event at design consultancy Netlife
Dashboard for the IKT department of a municipality
Experiment 4 - Browser eco mode
Currently the only possibility an average user has to reduce their digital emissions, is through digital sobriety. Which realistically is not possible, as the world is becoming increasingly more digital.
This is an experiment to give the user a way to reduce their overall digital emissions on the internet.
Remove ads
Compress media
No autoplay and caps video quality
Change to web-safe fonts
No unwelcome cookies and third parties
and more…
Conclusion
Designing with digital emissions in mind proved to be a fun experience as it sparked conversations with people who burn for creating a sustainable internet. Lowering digital emissions will be a cornerstone in my future projects.