In today's day, all of us are online and connected to our devices almost 24/7. As I sit here and type this and as you sit here and read this, we're just living proof. Continue reading this post to learn about how our technology affects the environment and what we can do to reduce our impact. The best part about it, is that all of the following green tips are completely FREE!
Did you know that an average laptop when left on for 8 hours a day everyday will emit 97 to 195 pounds of CO2 per year? To put that in perspective, a car will emit 20 pounds of CO2 for every gallon of gasoline burned. That means leaving your computer on all day is almost equal to burning 10 gallons of gasoline. One quick way to reduce this impact is by switching your laptop or desktop computer into sleep or stand-by modes when they aren't being used. Doing so will cut CO2 emissions due to your computer by two thirds!
However, stand-by modes still do use power! All of the electronics in our households that aren't completely powered off or are plugged in are still drawing power, even when not being used. Remembering to power off and unplug electronics when not in use is a great way to reduce your impact. Done watching that sick youtube video? Unplug those big speakers from your computer. Done charging your phone? Take your charger out of the outlet. Leaving the house? Power your laptop all the way down. If you are planning on leaving your house for an extended period of time, remember to unplug all unnecessary electronics such as TV's (but maybe leave those fridges plugged in 😉).
Another way to lessen the amount of energy consumed while using electronics is using an app called Dark Reader. Dark Reader is a plug-in for your browser that inverts some of the screen's colors so webpages are now largely black and grayscale instead of the usual large, energy consuming, white space. There was a study published in 2002 stating that monitors require more energy to display a white or light colored screen opposed to a black or dark colored screen (Robertson et al. 2002). Switching to dark screens has the potential to save 750 megawatt-hours per year. That's enough energy to power 487,500 homes! To download this app for your browser, search "Dark Reader" in your app store. I downloaded the plug-in for Chrome, click here for the direct link!
Not only are ads super annoying, but they also require unnecessary energy to keep them constantly playing and popping up. If you want to prevent these energy-suckers from flying across your screen, I recommend downloading an ad-blocker plug-in for your browser as well. Turn back around to your app store and there's plenty of options. One that was recommended to me that has been working out great is uBlock Origin. I downloaded uBlock Origin from the Chrome Web Store here, and the coolest part is if you're signed into Chrome then it will apply the blocker to all devices logged into that account.
Believe it or not, there is a way to actually help the environment while using all of our technological devices. Next time you go to google something, try pulling up Ecosia instead. Ecosia is a search engine just like google, but every time you search something the website plants a tree. These trees are planted across the globe in order to help the people, environment, and economies of places that need it the most. Ecosia prides themselves on being "more than CO2 neutral" since not only does every tree they plant remove more than two pounds of CO2 from the environment, but their servers run completely on renewable energy meaning they are removing more CO2 then they are contributing. It takes about two clicks to make Ecosia your new homepage and to start making a difference!
Thank you, people of the internet, for reading and for hopefully making some changes in the way you continue to explore the net. If you have more tips about how to reduce the impacts of the technology we use, drop us a comment on our instagram (@gunnigirlsgogreen) or shoot us an email at gunnigirls@gmail.com .
XX, Erin