In 2020, the average web page produced ~1.76 grams CO2 per page view. This carbon dioxide production figure reflects the greenhouse gas output associated with total estimated energy requirements of a number of different steps, including electricity use for web browsing, energy use in website data transmission from server to browser (including router), and web hosting power needs.
According to Website Carbon, the Steelonthenet.com website has a much smaller impact - and produces just 0.19 grams per page view [as at June 2021]. This places our website amongst the world's top 15% websites or so, in terms of low emissions output. Emphasis on efficient programming design, on page compression, on careful font use, on the use of minimal coding and on removal of image bloat (all of which also result in good SEO and in fast page loading for site visitors) are critical techniques that help us to attain this result.
With ~300,000 page views per year, these statistics means that the Steelonthenet.com website contributes just under 60 kg / year to global CO2 production. As a comparison, one tonne of steel production on average generates ~1.85 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Is this important? Well, according to worldsteel, the steel industry generates between 7 and 9% of the world's direct CO2emissions; and according to Website Carbon, the internet generates around 4% of these emissions - so website-related generation of CO2 is neither trivial nor unimportant.
See our CO2 emissions badge below. Over time, we hope to improve on this performance!