5 ways to reduce digital carbon footprint
Did you know that using digital devices has an environmental impact? Every online activity has an environmental impact. The CO2 emissions from the manufacturing, use, and data transfer of digital devices are known as "digital carbon footprint." Due to our extensive digital presence, leaving a digital footprint has always been disregarded or ignored. Here's how minimizing your digital footprint can help you embrace sustainability.
Declutter your inbox
Every email or attachment sent, received, or stored requires an amount of computing power. It is thus advised to reduce the number of emails you store in your inbox. Remember to unsubscribe to unnecessary newsletters and to report your spam emails so that they don't come back. Similarly, keep your inbox compact by deleting the emails you don't need to retain, including calendar invites.
Turn off devices when not in use
Make sure to switch off your electronics if you are planning to leave your device idle for a long time. Devices like laptops use up energy even when they are in sleep mode. Besides, makes sure you don't leave your devices plugged in for longer than needed. Avoid charging smartphones and laptops overnight. It will degrade your battery and also consume energy unnecessarily.
Browse smartly
Every query you type into a search engine consumes energy. Hence try to be as precise as possible when you are searching for something and avoid multiple rounds of searching. Additionally, make sure to bookmark websites you frequently visit. This will reduce the energy used up while searching and entering that particular website every time. Also remember to close inactive browser tabs.
Use cloud storage efficiently
For security purposes, each file you save to the cloud is saved many times. Hence upload and keep only what you believe is truly important. Remove identical photos and any unnecessary shared files with you from your cloud storage. Another viable option is to have such items saved on pen drives or hard drives instead of the cloud.
Stream videos carefully
Video streaming is a major source of energy use and data expansion. Reduce your energy use by not streaming videos that you aren't watching. While it is not practical to avoid streaming completely, one effective way you can manage this is by disabling the 'autoplay' option. Additionally, rather than streaming your audio or music online, try to download them when you can.
