6th Jan 2026
Choosing the greener or more ethical option can sometimes feel like a sacrifice rather than an improvement. Opting for local or organic vegetables is more expensive, using public transport is less convenient than travelling by car, researching ethical suppliers takes time.
Going into 2026 let’s change that mindset. The question is no longer “Should we choose the greener option?” but “Why wouldn’t we?” Having a more environmentally friendly website is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but is increasingly an expectation from customers, partners and even search engines. It shouldn’t feel like giving something up and with us, it isn’t. In fact, it’s a huge advantage!
A more efficiently designed website that uses fewer resources loads faster and delivers a better user experience. This boosts your credibility, encourages stronger engagement, and increases the likelihood that visitors will convert into customers. Plus, search engines reward fast, lightweight sites with higher rankings than their slower, less efficient competitors.
Additionally, choosing green hosting doesn’t reduce your website’s performance or uptime, it simply means that it is powered by renewable energy rather than fossil fuels. Of course, this is a benefit for the environment but it also demonstrates your commitment to responsible business practices and future proofs your website against evolving environmental standards and regulations.
You can take care of your website and the planet without the sacrifice.
If you would like to know more about our web design services or if you'd like a green audit of your current website, head over to makehay.co.uk and get in touch.
5th Nov 2025
We are delighted to share that we have been awarded ethical accreditation from The GOOD Shopping Guide and we are featured in their list of top 200 ethical businesses (in the Technology category). This means that we have also achieved Ethical Innovator status, demonstrating our commitment to having a positive impact in the The GOOD Shopping Guide's ethical criteria categories, Environment, Animals, People.
About the top 200 list, The Good Shopping Guide says:
"We are proud to endorse these truly ethical businesses as some of the most ethical companies and brands in the world – they are all testament to the power businesses can have to affect positive change."
Our ethical status was independently varified by The GOOD Shopping Guide's research team and we are encouraged that they particularly recognise the core ethos of our business and our contribution to a greener internet via our website hosting, powered 100% by renewable electricity. They also highlighted our work with charities, non-profits and ethical brands to deliver sustainable and accessible websites with a purpose.
The GOOD Shopping Guide have written more about our ethically accredited website design and hosting in their latest news.
17th Oct 2025
From the content we consume and share, to the tools we use and the digital debris we accumulate, every action online has an environmental impact.
Although our online world seems intangible, it translates directly to physical resources and energy and whilst we already make greener choices in other areas of our businesses, such as packaging, travel and equipment, this may not automatically follow through to our work online.
All of the content we consume and publish is saved on web servers in data centres around the world. The more online content that exists and is shared, the more resources are needed to keep and ‘serve’ the data online. These resources are physical: land, building materials, hardware, water. Plus lots of energy!
Huge amounts of energy is needed because data centres run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. As a result they get very hot and need constant cooling.
Added bonus: Search engines favour lighter, faster websites.
Added bonus: Clearing out your storage and e-mails creates less inbox overwhelm
Added bonus: Using alternatives to video can help those living in digital poverty (poor connection speeds and sharing devices)
Digital sustainability isn’t about abandoning the internet. It’s about using it in a conscious way.
19th Jun 2025
By choosing Green Hosting, our clients have taken an essential step in their digital lives towards reducing their negative environmental impact. Using services like ours, which are powered by renewable energy, means that their website is not contributing to carbon emissions as fossil fuel powered web hosting does. But what about other aspects of our lives?
When we talk about sustainability, we often focus on physical waste, energy-efficient devices or greener transportation. However, as we live increasingly in the digital world, we need to give our online habits more attention.
While choosing a green web host is a great starting point, true digital sustainability goes much deeper. From video consumption to email overload, every online action has a carbon cost. Here are several impactful ways to make your digital life more sustainable, beyond hosting.
Video is great, it is a really useful way of communicating in an engaging, accessible and human way. Video content is also the biggest data guzzler on the internet. Not taking into account video streaming for entertainment, we’ll focus on work-based video use here, this still requires significant server power and energy, much of it still sourced from fossil fuels.
What you can do:
Each social media post, in whatever form, is stored on servers that consume energy around the clock. When billions of users post constantly, the cumulative environmental cost adds up fast.
To avoid using valuable resources and creating digital waste, consider these things before posting:
Quality over quantity not only helps the environment, it can lead to more meaningful engagement, too.
Inefficient websites packed with bloated scripts, oversized images and unnecessary video or animations use more hosting bandwidth and disk space, increasing load on both the servers and user devices as well as higher power demands on data centres.
Here are some sustainable site design tips:
Remember that a faster, leaner website isn’t just better for the planet it’s better for your users. It is vital to remember that we are designing for humans. Let’s make sure our web visitors are not left waiting for slow loading pages and their data isn’t being used up by downloading excessive file sizes.
Inbox overload isn’t just a mental clutter, it’s an environmental one too. Each email stored translates to the use of physical space and electricity, including the millions of unnecessary marketing emails we receive daily.
Simple steps to clean up:
It might feel like a daunting task if e-mails have built up over time but clearing that space will help it all become more manageable in the future.
Some online services and tools are built with sustainability in mind. Whether it’s a CMS plugin that optimizes performance or a platform powered by renewable energy, choosing eco-conscious technology providers amplifies your impact.
Look for:
Choosing technology carefully, with environmental goals in mind is a powerful way to align your digital life with your values.
Digital sustainability isn’t about abandoning the internet but it is about using it in a smarter way. From the content we consume and share, to the tools we use and the digital debris we accumulate, every action online has an environmental impact.
Going beyond choosing green hosting to embrace broader digital responsibility is great for the planet as well as your productivity, online presence and how you can make a difference in a meaningful way.
6th Feb 2025
On June 28th 2025 the European Accessibility Act (EAA) comes into force. The Act aims to ensure equitable access to online digital services (including websites) and products for users in the European Union. It applies to any business that provides products and services to consumers in the EU, wherever the business is based. This means that it applies to UK businesses.
See our previous article 'Website accessibility - what, why and how' for more details on what web accessibility means, why it is important and ways to make your website more accessible.
Previously, legislation based around website accessibility has been aimed mainly at Public Sector bodies but the EAA focusses on the private sector. It applies to businesses who trade in the EU, who are based outside of the EU but sell products and services within the EU and who have at least 10 employees and a turnover of €2 million.
Whilst the EAA may not apply to some smaller businesses and individuals, we believe that all website owners should be working towards a more accessible internet. As in other areas of society, many people are disadvantaged in the digital world due to unequal access to information, services and products. Older people, disabled people and those without access to fast internet services will all benefit from websites that are designed and created to accessibility standards.
Find more detailed information about the European Accessibility Act at:
European Union
European Commission
Ability Net
Gov.uk - understanding accessibility requirements
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