Hi guys, I am on the 5$ plan and I just checked my Carbon footprint and it turned out to be pretty ugly. My website is “dirtier than 76% of all web pages globally” – same goes for micro.blog in general: micro.blog - Website Carbon Calculator
I wonder why. The website seems to pretty lightweight and no scripts are cluttering the experience.
I think this is just basically looking at how much data is transferred, so I bet it basically comes down to “Are there images on this page?” and or “Is there any embedded javascript?”
Right now, I don’t think my homepage has a post with an image so I look great.
My 21-year-old WordPress website generates 91kg of CO2 annually, equivalent to boiling water for 12,330 cups of tea or driving an EV 1,520km. While it’s hosted on sustainable energy, it emits more carbon than 67% of web pages. Over the years, I’ve optimised my site using a lightweight theme, caching with Redis, compressing images with JPEGmini, and minifying code to improve efficiency. I avoid lazy loading because it can cause content buffering, impacting user experience and loading speed. Since I only host images and not videos, I’ve already minimised heavy media usage. The blog got an E rating.
That said, other than raising awareness, what’s the point of measuring my blog’s carbon footprint? The only way to truly reduce that footprint is to stop blogging.
For me, the focus is on finding a balance—taking meaningful steps to reduce the impact while continuing to share my thoughts. These efforts may not make the blog footprint-free, but they reflect my commitment to sustainability.