1st Sep 2019
Do you remember back in the day when we would add a note in our e-mail signatures saying something like “Please consider the environment. Do not print this e-mail unless necessary”?
Many of us were in a new phase of working where paper was the bad guy and digital was the environmentally friendly alternative. It was easy to think of e-mails as an intangible thing, magically leaving your mailbox and arriving in your recipients’ a few seconds later without so much of a tiny tiptoe, never mind a great big stomping dirty carbon footprint.
Fast forward 10 to 15 years later and the world is very different. E-mails are now one tiny aspect of our extensive online professional and personal lives. I would dare to guess that most people reading this have Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram accounts. We stream movies and tv series, listen to music, podcasts, radio and we play games. We buy books, holidays, gifts and other fun things. It’s such a joy! We conduct much of our work online whether through our own websites or third-party platforms; writing articles, creating promotional videos, making sales, communicating, learning, buying from suppliers, managing our admin. It makes life so much more convenient and is a vital marketing tool. Entrepreneurs may have separate business accounts from their private ones for various digital services and our online activities are split into the data we consume and the data we create.
If you take a moment to make a mental list of all of your day-to-day online tasks and pastimes, you’ll probably be surprised by how many there are and how they are continually growing. These activities are such an impalpable, integral part of our lives, seemingly residing in our devices and office computers that barely take up any of our own space or energy. But that isn’t the full picture…
The thing is, e-mails are not an intangible thing nor are any of the other multitude of online activities I’ve listed (and not listed) above. Every click, every published word, picture, video, sound and transaction uses energy and resources and creates waste. The abstract internet isn’t abstract at all. The digital equates to the physical and in very significant ways and amounts. It translates to electricity and gas consumed, materials sourced, hardware manufactured and transported, structures built and land taken. All of the data we consume and create is stored in millions, yes millions of data centres around the world which house, process and serve up every single thing we say and do online. These data centres accommodate the web servers which are connected to the internet 24/7, they need to be kept secure, maintained, cooled and of course powered constantly. Their physical size varies between 5,000 and 500,000 square feet. The whole thing is absolutely gargantuan and it is growing at an incredible rate.
There are many more articles and studies online if you would like to delve deeper into this topic (I have added a list of resources at the end of this article). However, it doesn’t take long too see that our ever-increasing use and creation of online data is causing a problem that isn’t going to go away.
Many of us are already on the path of living a more sustainable lifestyle and thankfully this is becoming more mainstream too. We switch off our electrical goods when not in use, look for low energy appliances and light bulbs, we’re cutting down on single use plastic and worry about the damage of palm oil production, fast fashion and the meat industry. Slowly a wave of less consumption and lower waste is happening in many areas of our lives except in the world of online data, where exactly the opposite is taking place.
We need to apply the same level of responsibility in our digital lives as we do our physical ones. We wouldn’t dream of polluting the air by driving to each of our friend’s houses to tell them about the local veg we’d eaten for dinner or waste paper and ink printing off unnecessarily large photos of our shop products. But we do squander the resources we have to communicate online.
I don’t need to write a list of things that you can do instead of binge-watching your favourite box-set or scrolling through your Instagram feed. We all know that there’s life out there away from the Internet, let’s just go and live it (I’m saying this to myself too by the way).
I can, however, provide some useful ways to work more efficiently online, especially with the content and data you publish on your own website and elsewhere:
Please consider the environment. Do not post this unless you really need to.
Where we conduct so much of our business marketing and valuable (dare I say essential) networking online it is tempting to feel like we continuously need to post something (anything) on our social media business accounts so that we aren’t forgotten. Don’t give in to that temptation and work on curating useful, informative posts less often instead. The quality over quantity principle really applies here.
To video or not to video
Video is the biggest offender when it comes to online resource use as it accounts for 80% of the world’s data traffic. So, although video is an amazing medium for communicating with your audience, use it wisely and only when you will get the best results from it rather than just as your default choice. The Shift Project provides a guide on how to reduce the digital size of your videos, so if you do choose to publish a video, make sure it is as small (in file size) as it can be. *
Sort out those images
You know those times when you visit a website and the page appears with the images missing initially, then the pictures jerkily load into the page? This is when the images used are way too big. It may appear the correct size on the page but only its dimensions have been reduced and the original file size is much larger. This is a common wasteful practice and these huge photos can do your website more harm than good. Re-size your digital images before you add them to your website. Even with large, high res screens it is unlikely that you will ever need to use a photo that is 5000 pixels wide, straight from your digital camera.
Clear out your WordPress Plugins
If you’re a WordPress user, it is likely that you have installed a number of plugins to perform specific tasks on your website (e.g. SEO tools, e-commerce, events calendar etc). These plugins are a fantastic thing for non-web developers because they take a lot of work out of adding a new feature. However, these plugins can be heavy on resources because they perform several functions (you may not be utilising all of them) and when your website is visited, every plugin is loaded, even the ones that are not currently in use. This is wasteful but also potentially dangerous. Plugins that are left idle and not kept up to date cause vulnerabilities in your website, which can be exploited by hackers. Be choosy about the plugins you use and delete the ones you don’t need.
Responsible website ownership
Old and poorly optimised websites are slower, less efficient and use more resources. They provide an inferior experience for your visitors and are damaging to the environment. This is one of the more technical aspects of being a website owner and it is advisable to seek professional support and advice to address this.
Keep that mailbox tidy
If left unchecked your mailbox can become a dumping ground for every e-mail you have ever sent and received. Redundant E-mails stored in your web hosting account are taking up server space, like a digital landfill. Delete old e-mails that you’re sure you no longer need, especially those with attachments and newsletters with images. Do this both in your inbox and sent items. If you’re worried about deleting e-mails that you may want to access later then download them and create an archive. Be sensible though, back ups are still worth taking to make sure you don't lose anything vital.
Wind powered website hosting
Carbon emissions are a waste product of burning fossil fuels. Currently greenhouse gases created by web hosting servers and cloud computing powered by non-renewable resources is equivalent to that of the aviation industry. Don’t contribute to this pollution, choose website hosting powered by renewable energy, like our Green Hosting. Our Centro datacentre in London, which houses the hosting servers, routers and cooling systems runs entirely on wind generated electricity from UK wind farms and employs energy efficient design principles meaning it uses less energy as a whole.
As is often the case, there are other advantageous outcomes of running a more environmentally friendly, low waste website; Its efficiency will be improved and in turn so will your SEO, It will be more accessible to a wider audience, especially those with slower connections and it will be more secure. Reducing the chances of your website or e-mails becoming vulnerable to hackers or phishing attempts will save you time, money and credibility – everyone benefits.
If you would like to know more about our wind powered website hosting service or how we can help your website run more efficiently then do get in touch.
* The Shift Project video guide - This is not a recommendation and we cannot be responsible for any use of this guide.
1) Impakter - Hungry for Data, Starving the World
2) Data Center Knowledge - The Data Center Dilemma: Is Our Data Destroying the Environment?
3) Information Age - A perfect storm: the environmental impact of data centres
4) Data Center Knowledge - The Data Center Dilemma: Is Our Data Destroying the Environment?
6) Market Watch - 175 Zettabytes by 2025! A data deluge is round the corner
7) The Shift Project - The Unsustainable Use of Online Video
Data Center Knowledge - State of the Data Center Industry, 2018 – Where We are and What to Expect
The Shift Project - “Lean ICT: Towards digital sobriety”: Our new report on the environmental impact of ICT
Greenpeace - Click Clean Report 2017
Data Economy - Data centres of the world will consume 1/5 of Earth’s power by 2025
Nature - How to stop data centres from gobbling up the world’s electricity
The Guardian - Our phones and gadgets are now endangering the planet
1st Jul 2017
Hosting your website on servers powered by 100% renewable energy is a real way of ensuring your business or organisation is helping the environment.
You might wonder what impact that can really make but second to the aviation industry, the powering of datacentres and cloud computing run on fossil fuels is reported to be the largest global contributor to carbon emissions. That is a big deal!
Don't be put off by the idea that switching from your old website host to Green Hosting is complicated and disruptive, it needn't be. We can help you make a smooth transition to us.
All you need to do is add the 'Website Transfer Service' when you sign up to one of our hosting plans. The best part is that our transfer service isn't expensive, it's just a one-off fee of £25.
If you have a WordPress website we can transfer your site and provide extra security features to help protect it from hackers.
If you'd like to know more please get in touch.
11th Feb 2016
New Green Hosting customers can add the option of letting us handle some essential security measures on their WordPress website as part of their hosting account set-up. If you would like us to do this, just choose to add the WordPress security steps when you sign-up.
We will install WordPress for you at your hosting account and:
- Create a non 'admin' username
- Limit log-in attempts
- Rename the log-in URL
- Re-route the standard log-in URL to a 403 forbidden page
- Install 'Plugin Vulnerabilities'
- Install WordFence
Website owners can of course do this themselves and we strongly suggest that anyone with a self-hosted WordPress website regularly updates their installation and plug-ins as well as takes care of other security issues.
For our existing Green Hosting customers, if you would like help with this please contact us.
11th Dec 2015
Brand new for our clients we have a range of badges to show that your website is 100% wind powered by our Green Hosting.
See our badges page for all of the different versions (various sizes, colour and black & white transparent PNGs).
All you need to do is copy and paste the code provided for the badge of your choice into your website. If you need any assistance in doing this then do get in touch and we'll be happy to help.
15th Apr 2015
Updated 3rd July 2015
Wordpress is one of the most popular CMS's today but its popularity has attracted the unwanted attention of potential attackers who look for out of date installations and vulnerabilities to gain access to your website's admin area.
This can cause serious problems, including:
- Attackers gaining access to your website, posting their own content or defacing your content.
- Heavy load on the website server as thousands of attempts to access your website log in is made, resulting in your website being taken offline.
There are ways to improve the security of your WordPress website so that you and your visitors can continue to enjoy its great features.
This needs to be done first and foremost, before any of the items below. Always make sure you back-up your website before starting the updates. Keep an eye out for new software releases and update your WordPress website each time.
WordPress' default Administrator username on initial installation is 'admin'. If you haven't changed this it gives attackers a better chance of guessing your log-in details straight away. Make sure none of your user profiles have the username 'admin'. You need to change the Administrator username or create another user at 'Administrator' level (with alternative username), log in as this new user and delete the original user which has the 'admin' username. Please note that the new user profile must have Administrator level access.
There is a very useful plugin that allows you to set a number of log-in attempts before a user is blocked. If an attacker is trying to guess your username and password their IP will be blocked until your stipulated timeframe. The 'Limit Login Attempts' plugin can be installed and configured easily and was still working on Wordpress 4.1.1 at the time of writing this article.
A potential attacker would usually try to find your log-in page from the default WordPress URL but this makes their job so much harder.
The 'WPS Hide Login' plugin allows you to change the standard log in URL from
www.yourwordpresswebsite/wp-login.php
to
www.yourwordpresswebsite/login-of-your-choice/
Again, this is easy to install and set up. Although the plugin is no longer maintained it was still working on Wordpress 4.1.1 at the time of writing this article.
As additional security to the above WP login rename you can add a small amount of code to your website's .htaccess file. If a hacker attempts to find your standard wp-login.php page they will run into a '403 Forbidden' rather than the '404 Page not found' on your website. Here's the code:
Deny from All
ErrorDocument 403 "Forbidden"
Please note: You should always back up your website before making changes such as these described above. These changes are suggestions only and we cannot be responsible for any problems with third party WordPress software, plugins or themes now or in the future. These changes shouldn't be attempted unless you understand their implications and have a good knowledge of WordPress. If you have a web designer who initially set up your WordPress website then you may wish to ask them to check and make these changes for you.
Additional steps - if your website has been compromised you may find the following useful.
Plugin Vulnerabilities alerts you when installed plugins contain known security vulnerabilities. Also lists vulnerabilities that exist in other versions of installed plugins. This plugin checks the plugins you have installed against a list of verified security vulnerabilities. If the installed version of a plugin is vulnerable an alert is added to the Installed Plugins page, otherwise details of the vulnerabilities are included on the Plugin Vulnerabilities page.
Wordfence starts by checking if your site is already infected. It will run a deep server-side scan of your source code comparing it to the Official WordPress repository for core, themes and plugins. This is quite a powerful plugin and the options and settings are not intended for a complete novice but it will provide an additional layer of security if configured correctly.
If you do not have a web designer or are not able to check and update your WordPress website then we can help. Please send us a helpdesk support request and we can provide a quote for any work needed. It is much more cost effective to defend your website now than to recover a hacked or compromised website.
Green Hosting works handsomely with:
Auto-installer now available on all accounts
