In this age of streaming and remote work, the environmental impact of digital technology is not negligible. Thankfully, those who wish to be more mindful of their digital carbon footprint can easily adopt a greener approach with some simple everyday actions.
Here are six ways to do so:
1. Reduce power consumption
To consume less energy with your computer or smartphone, try lowering the screen brightness, opting for “night” mode (which gives a dark background to most applications), and setting the screen to go to sleep after just a few minutes.
Don’t forget to switch off GPS and Bluetooth connectivity when they’re not needed, and Wi-Fi as soon as you leave the house.
2. Keep your hardware for as long as it works
On the subject of hardware, it’s always best to keep devices for as long as possible. After which, you may opt to recycle them by giving them to someone or to an organisation that will take care of recovering what can be reused.
When it comes to replacing your hardware, try as much as possible to go for second-hand (reconditioned) items to reduce your digital footprint.
3. Opt for Wi-Fi
When it comes to connectivity at home, whatever the device, give preference to Wi-Fi over a 4G or 5G connection. Did you know that watching a video over Wi-Fi rather than your mobile network consumes up to 23 times less energy?
4. Adjust streaming quality
Unsurprisingly, streaming is a most energy-intensive usage. By slightly lowering the image quality via the settings of your streaming platform, you’ll help reduce the power consumption associated with your viewing habits.
Another simple action is to stop the next episode from playing automatically. It’s also better to download content and watch it later than to stream it directly.
5. Manage your emails
The more emails you receive and store in your inbox, the more energy your dedicated servers consume. So, delete all messages that are no longer of any use or that are too old, and unsubscribe from newsletters that are no longer needed.
You should also opt for group messages rather than sending the same message several times to a single recipient, especially if one or more attachments are included.
6. Keep on top of cloud content
As for all the content you store in the cloud (documents, audio files, images, videos, etc.), don’t hesitate to do a thorough clear-out on a regular basis to determine what to keep and what’s no longer useful.