Sustainability in Development

For much talk on web performance, user experience, and the latest frameworks! But with time, environmental sustainability has gained more emphasis in other ways-the impact of how every website/app is built is worth considering.

With each visit to a website, data goes from one point to another, energy is being consumed by servers, and at the client. Now, multiply that with billions of users, and you see how significant a carbon footprint the digital world can have. A very interesting question arises: As web developers, can we do anything to make websites more sustainable? Are we looking for ways to practice “Green Coding”?

The abstract nature of this proposition first tends to tune one out; however, in our day-to-day work, we can actually implement some concrete measures for this cause.

One way comes into play-performance optimization. A faster website is more helpful to a user. The lesser data is to be transferred, the shorter the server processing time will be, and the less energy that is consumed at the user’s device. Image optimization, minimizing HTTP requests, lazy loading of resources, and writing efficient code make a site lighter on energy expenditure.

Then, there is the immediate choice of hosting. Did you know there are hosting providers that allow their data centers to be powered by renewable energies? Opting for a green host reduces the project’s environmental footprint considerably.

And there is data transfer to mind, and every kilbyte counts! Is there any way we can reduce the actual amount of code, assets, and data we transmit over the wire? Performance springs back here as a consideration, but it also concerns what exactly we decide to include in our projects.

Next, code efficiency counts in ways. Less than hosting or data transfer, maybe, but smart algorithms and minimizing uncalled processes on the server or client side do help save energy.

To me, it feels like this is an area where we as a community may want to start actively influencing our decision. The design and makeup of a site are now seen not just from the viewpoint of its functionality or beauty, but by the climate-conscious consideration of its construction.

What do you think about sustainable web development? Have you thought about any of your projects in terms of their environment? Any tools, techniques, and resources that you use or know about that might help with green coding?