A key theme for WordCamp London 2019 is sustainability. We want to host a sustainable event, and encourage our sponsors to be sustainable exhibitors.
With WordPress powering over a third of the internet, though, the scope for impact on creating a sustainable web is huge.
Every WordPress site that loads a page requires server resources to do so, and thus each page load generates a carbon emission. The better optimised a website, the lower its carbon emissions. The average website generates 6.8g CO2, and the internet in total accounts for 2% of global carbon emissions.
We’re thus delighted that WPMU DEV, one of our Camden Lock sponsors, is helping WordPress sites be more efficient – and use less carbon – with its suite of free performance optimisation tools, including Hummingbird, Smush, and Smartcrawl.
I had a chat with Josh at WPMU DEV on how the tools work, and how it fits in with the sustainable picture.
When talking about site performance and content optimisation, the value proposition usually starts and stops with PageRank and discoverability. But our free optimisation suite (Hummingbird, Smush, and Smartcrawl), is about much more than gaming Google Algorithms.
On a deeper level, performance and content optimisation are about people.
Sure, at the end of the day search engines like Google reward you for being a good neighbour. But adding cache, using a CDN, making your content easier to find, delivering smaller images, and mobile-friendly content saves time, money, and valuable resources – not only for you and your users but also for our planet – and that’s something worth feeling good about.
Contributing to an energy sustainable future may sound lofty, but common sense solutions like choosing light, well-coded, plugins, hosting, and CDN services will have a massive impact. Especially as your site begins to grow and requires more resources.
So next time you install and configure a plugin like Smush on your WordPress site, you can pat yourself on the back and say, “you’re welcome world”. 😉
Josh is absolutely right: performance optimisation is good for people – as they get what they want, faster – but it’s also good for business as Google rewards it, and it’s good for the environment as a better-optimised site creates fewer emissions.
So – when creating your next WordPress site, check out WPMU DEV’s free plugins!