Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. I’m a big supporter of technologies that allow us to work more efficiently with less power. However, I’m also a realist. I’m critical of net-zero initiatives that negatively impact our quality of life. Power is the backbone of our infrastructure, and we need to be realistic about how it’s generated; otherwise, we’ll be living in the dark ages.
That said I do my bit to stay efficient:
- Monitor Dimming: I dim my monitors to their lowest setting. To be honest, it’s much nicer for the eyes and has the added benefit of using less power.
- The Power Station: I often run my workstation off one of my portable power stations. It gives me a solid 8 hours of energy. I can recharge it for about £1, or my preferred way via my 200-watt solar panels in about 3-4 hours.
Fun fact: solar panels still work when it’s drizzling or cloudy! It might stretch the charge time to 5 hours, but the energy is still getting generated. I call this charging “bright power.” - Metal Drink Canteen: Courtesy of the Bushcraft Show (which I have volunteered for over many years), I use a metal refillable canteen daily. It keeps me hydrated and cuts out the need for plastic bottles. Volunteering at the show was an amazing experience that opened my eyes to many valuable traditional ways of living while teaching me skills like “leaving no trace” – aka, no rubbish left behind.
The goal for the future is to fully power my workstation using solar energy and to store excess power in battery packs for those long winters and rare power cuts.
How this affects my clients: Every website we build is designed to be fast and efficient. Faster loading times mean less energy consumption, particularly on mobile devices where heavy apps can drain batteries. On top of that, all our servers are powered by green energy sources like solar or wind farms.
By using less power, I’m not just saving money on the bills, I’m actually helping the planet in a way that makes sense.
