stir.ac.uk runs on 100% renewable energy
Our website is ranked 2nd for accessibility by Sitemorse
View moreUsing Ecosia on student laptops has planted 8,829 trees
Digital technology is a powerful force shaping our everyday lives. It can help reduce carbon emissions, bring people together and enhance sustainable practice.
However, there is also a carbon cost to the use of digital technology. As we meet the digital needs of our users, we are also working to reduce the environmental impact of our digital footprint.
Implementing sustainable practices on our website is good for the planet but it’s also good for our users.
We’re working with our teams to help them shift toward electronic documents, online feedback, and digital course materials.
Five year impact so far
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Images are one of the biggest sources of data storage and transfer, and therefore carbon emissions. We optimise images to the smallest size possible before we upload them to the website. We also remove assets and images from our media library that are no longer in use.
We use lazy loading which delays the loading of images and other resources until they are needed by the user. This can reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred when a page is first loaded.
Minification involves compressing our code by removing whitespace, comments, and redundant syntax, resulting in smaller file sizes and faster load times.
Beyond minification, we continually refine our codebase by eliminating unused assets and updating our implementations to benefit from emerging browser technologies.
We use Amazon Web Services (AWS) for the main website, our Content Management System and our search platforms.
Controlling third-party code: many third-party additions to the website (tracking pixels, chat, embedded forms etc) are only required in certain areas of the site, or under certain conditions. These are all managed using Google Tag Manager, and we write complex rules to ensure they are only loaded on pages where needed.
Caching involves storing frequently accessed or reused page components like logos and scripts, in the user’s browser or on the server. This makes pages load much faster when users move around the website or make repeat visits, and significantly reduces the amount of data that needs to be transferred.
We regularly check the website performance using Google’s Page Speed tool and use the guidance provided by Core Web Vitals to inform optimal code design.
We have implemented a Content Distribution Network (CDN) for images. When a user visits our website, their browser will be served content from the geographically closest CDN server.
This can help to reduce the distance that data needs to travel, which can lead to faster loading times for our users and reduced carbon emissions.
CDNs can reduce website carbon emissions by up to 42% (Source: BBC)
We also plan to investigate automated conversion of images to WebP format. WebP is a better image format than JPEG as it offers smaller file sizes, better image quality, and support for transparency. WebP images can be up to 34% smaller than JPEG images at the same quality level.
This can lead to faster loading times, less bandwidth usage and significantly reduced carbon emissions.
Accessibility is about giving everyone equitable access to our website. We are consistently in the Top 5 on Sitemorse’s university rankings for accessibility.
We have several initiatives on digital sustainability away from the website, including saving carbon emissions through lending laptops and using the Ecosia search engine to plant trees.
The university runs a scheme where students can borrow a laptop rather than purchase. This results in lower CO2 emissions, than if the student bought a new device for university. This scheme also helps students save money.
If 200 students per annum chose not to purchase a device but use University facilities instead, we calculate it reduces carbon emissions by 113,000 KG.
Ecosia uses 100% of its profits for the planet and produces enough renewable energy to power all searches twice over. By installing Ecosia on student laptops, our students’ internet searches are helping to combat climate change. Their searches alone have planted 8,829 trees in the last year.