Got a great connection to a website carbon footprint calculator from my friend Tim Frick, author of Sustainable Web design. This calculator, from Wholegrain Digital in the UK really rocks – I tried it on my sites and it correctly identified that I use a “green” web host, AISO.net.
https://www.websitecarbon.com/
This site follows in the tradition of Frick’s own Ecograder
Together, what we’ve been talking about here for years becomes obvious – typical websites are spewing tons of carbon per year into the atmosphere. A medium site is like a very large SUV, and large corporates sites like a whole fleet of cars. And this doesn’t really cover the hidden pollution that happens when the power goes down and local Diesel engines keep the host online.
Using these graders is an awesome way to introduce your students to Sustainable Web Design.
