Green Internet

Get a Green Internet with these 6 Easy Tips

 

Green INTERNET 6 tipsWhen you live green, you want all aspects of your daily life to be green.

So, you reduce consumption, reduce plastic and energy use, and generally make choices that support the Earth – and us.

One area we don’t often think about though, is our internet use.

Does your internet usage make it a green internet?

Do you know how much carbon your produce when you use the internet, spend time on social media such as Facebook or Pinterest, and send and receive email?

Let’s look at email.

Green Internet with eMail

green internet emailEvery time you send an email, you use about 4 grams of carbon1 (less than a quarter of an ounce) – assuming you don’t add any attachments.

Well, that’s not so much, is it?

It’s not a lot at all.

But how many emails do you send in a day?

Then multiply that by 365…..

Apparently each year, the average person sends enough emails to cause carbon emissions equal to a 200-mile car ride.

Now, of course, that’s better than sending all those messages on paper in envelopes and having them delivered.

But even so, it’s worthwhile looking at your email habits to see how you can reduce your carbon footprint.

Here’s how.

Green Internet with “Reply to All”

green internet reply to allThe “reply to all” function works by sending duplicate emails to all of the people listed in To: box. So instead of sending one email to lots of people, it’s actually sending separate emails to everyone  — and multiplying your email-generated carbon footprint at the same time.

Before replying to all, take a quick moment to see if everybody on the list really needs to get your message. You’ll save a few grams of carbon, and you’ll help people’s inboxes from filling up needlessly.

Green Internet with Search

green internet searchLearning how to use your email’s search function can save you carbon, time, and sanity. Don’t ask someone to re-send a message / attachment – search for it instead. It’s quick and easy.

Green Internet with Spam

Of course, no one who reads this EcoExpert blog is a spammer!

But as an individual, do you sometimes send humour or videos to many people? Do they all really want to see it?

If you work for a company, are you sending marketing messages to people on an email list who don’t read your mail? You should be able to target your audience which will increase conversion rates while also reducing your carbon footprint.

Green Internet with Unsubscribe

Talking of messages that go unread, do you receive emails that you don’t have time to read? Take a minute and remove yourself from those mailing lists. You’ll have a smaller, neater inbox, and you’ll reduce your indirect carbon footprint too.

Green Internet with Your Feet

Have you ever emailed a person who is literally sitting close enough for you to talk to them? (I used to).  Don’t mail them, get up and have a quick chat.  You’ll use less carbon and get a little exercise / stretch too.

Green Internet with Internet Hosting

green internetDo you have a website or a blog?

Who do you host with? Of course you want it to be green hosting.

SingleHop offer a web hosting service and they’re going green!

Using a cloud-based hosting service can reduce your and/or your company’s carbon footprint by way of the cloud’s economies of scale.

They have more tips on how to reduce your footprint with hosting here (and that’s also where I got a lot of this information from) (with their permission of course!).  And you can read more about the services they offer here.

Useful post? Then please spread the green word – sharing buttons below and right – thank you!

1 Berners-Lee, Mike. “An email.” How Bad Are Bananas? Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2011. EPUB file.


Tags

green internet, green internet tips, make your internet green, tips for a green internet


{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}
Join 5 De-Stress Yoga Challenge happy woman
>