If you’re on a mission to be as eco-friendly as you possibly can be, there are ways that technology can help you. In some cases there are apps you can use to help you identify eco-friendly products, in other cases there’s technology that’s designed specifically to be more eco-friendly – think electric vehicles for example. Here’s a few ways you can use technology to be more eco-friendly.
Eco-Friendly Ways to Use Technology
1. Organise your emails
This is probably something you’ve never even considered. I’m ashamed to say that one of my email addresses has over 3000 unread emails and over 5000 read emails. What you might not know is that “The sending, sorting and filtering of spam email alone accounts for 33bn units of electricity each year” – The Guardian.
| “A study shows that storing 1GB of e-mail during one year consumes 32.1 kWh. According to the same study, an e-mail weighs on average 230 kB (that’s 7.4 Wh a year). So, if you delete 30 e-mails you can save 222 Wh, that pretty much the equivalent of a low energy light bulb (9 Wh) left on for a day (216 Wh).” – Strawberry Code |
If you delete all those emails that you’re storing but will never read you’ll stop wasting energy. The other thing to consider is unsubscribing from any newsletter that you never have time to read and regularly emptying your spam folder. Now it’s true that this is a very small thing to do and some people say it has little effect, but in the end, even if it’s just a tiny amount of energy you save it’s worth it isn’t it? It should also save you some time as well if you receive and send fewer emails.
Update 19 Nov ’20 – We might all be encouraged to send one less email a day to reduce our carbon footprint. The easiest way to do this is to stop sending a ‘thank you’ email. Can Sending Fewer Emails Really Save The Planet?
2. Use Ecosia
Just by switching to the Ecosia search engine you’re helping the environment. For every 45 or so searches that you carry out they plant a tree. They also focus on native trees rather than monoculture which is much better for biodiversity. Read 50 reasons to use Ecosia and make it your default search engine today!
3. Buy Used / Repaired Phones instead of New Ones
Smart phones are great, and it seems that everyone has one (well apart from me that is!), but do you really need to buy the latest model iPhone every time one is released? Simple answer is no. There is an environmental impact during the manufacture, transportation and use of every phone.
| “According to the Ethical Consumer, manufacturing an “ordinary” mobile phone causes 16kg of CO2 equivalent emissions. That’s the same as 1kg of beef. This figure then rises to 22kg when you add on the power the device consumes over two years, which is the average length of time a phone is used. When you then take into consideration the energy used to transmit calls, the total CO2 equivalent increases to 94kg over the lifetime of a phone.” – Gadget Cover |
So what can you do? Texting has a lower carbon footprint than making a call. More importantly… Don’t buy new phones, buy second hand or keep your existing one until it breaks when you should recycle it. Nearly every part of your phone can be recycled and used for new phones meaning there’s less need for mining for the precious materials, such as gold, that are used for them.
4. Download some apps
When you’re out in the supermarket it can be really difficult to tell from the ingredient list whether it contains something that is harmful to the environment. For example, there are many ways palm oil is included in a product which aren’t obvious. There are several different apps you can download which will let you know if the product contains palm oil so you can avoid them. One of the best apps out there is https://gikibadges.com/ it lets you know whether something is sustainable or ethical, helping you to make much better choices.
In much the same way the ‘Is it Vegan’ app can tell you whether a product contains any non-vegan ingredients (it can be hard to keep track of what is and isn’t vegan), because as most of us know by now, eating a plant based diet is much better for the environment.
Check out 35+ eco-friendly apps to help you live more sustainably.
5. Use a Smart Meter
Using a smart meter by itself will not help the environment but if you keep an eye on it you can work out what is using the most power in your house which should help you to be more energy efficient at home.
6. Energy Efficient Lightbulbs
Using energy efficient lightbulbs is one of the simplest ways of saving energy at home.
7. Meetings over Skype
Holding your meetings over skype instead of flying to attend them will massively reduce your carbon footprint. I’m not going to deny that meeting people face to face makes it much easier to make a connection with people, but once you’ve already met and bonded there is no reason why international meetings can’t be held over skype. It’ll save your business loads of time and money and the planet will thank you.
8. Work from home
With all the technological advances working from home has never been easier. Companies which allow some of their workforce to work from home all, or just some, of the time, see loads of benefits. The business will save space, energy and money, the individual spends less time commuting, less money on to ‘to-go’ lunches and takeaway coffees and they generally have a healthier work life balance. All of these benefits also benefit the environment as well. It’s a no-brainer as long as you’re not a waitress of course! Ask your boss about working from home a couple of days a week.
9. Buy Energy Efficient Appliances
When your appliances come to the end of their life replace them with second hand ones or ones with good energy efficiency ratings. They tend to be slightly more expensive initially but will save you money in the long term. Try to make sure that any electrical item you buy is repairable. Gone are the days when we can just dispose of broken items, even some governments are requiring that items can be repaired.
Check out the most eco-friendly ovens.
10. Buy an Electric Car
Electric cars are also more expensive initially but they’re so much better for air quality, your personal carbon footprint and to save vital non-renewable resources. Hopefully we’ll see electric cars becoming cheaper and more charging points available to encourage more people to use them. We certainly can’t carry on as we currently are.
There’s 10 ways you can use technology to be more eco-friendly… are there other ways you use technology to be more environmentally friendly? Comment below!
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