Did you know a laptop uses about 30–60 times more energy in 1 hour than a mobile phone? Do you already have a website or planning to make one soon? If you are environment conscientious, here's information you may not find anywhere else on the internet except at FW$, also it helps directly relate our internet activity to our planets climate and gives ideas of what you can do and what FW$ is doing, and what we could do together to save our climate by just becoming aware. 

We all love what websites do for us, everything from information, to entertainment. FW$ is in the business of Website publishing services as a platform, however we are deeply connected to our earth's environment and deeply feel the necessisity to be fully aware of our fellow living creatures including plants, animals, birds and how we all dwell on this place called earth. Would you too like to know more about it? Our team directed by our CEO analyzed and published this article estimating the energy consumption of hosting a website and user access is complex but can be broadly calculated. Here’s a breakdown of energy use:

1. Server-Side Energy Consumption for Hosting a Website

Annual Energy for Web Hosting (Per Server)

• Average Energy Consumption: A typical web server in a data center can consume about 500–800 watts per hour depending on the server type, with high-performance servers consuming more.

• Energy per Year: Assuming an average of 700 watts per hour:

  700 watts×24 hours/day×365 days/year=6,132,000 watt-hours 
  • This equals about 6,132 kWh per year per server.

Data centers also have cooling, network, and backup systems which add to this. With these overheads, total energy consumption per server per year can rise to around 12,000–15,000 kWh.

Energy Intensity per Website

If a server hosts multiple websites (e.g., shared hosting), the energy consumption per website is a fraction of this total:

• For shared hosting (say, 50–100 websites per server), the energy use per website could range from 120 to 300 kWh per year.

2. User-Side Energy Consumption (Per Access)

Average Power Consumption by Device Type

• Mobile Phones: About 2–6 watts when actively using a website (browsing, video, etc.), though typically closer to 3 watts.
• Laptops: Around 20–50 watts during active usage, depending on screen brightness and activity.

Energy Usage per Minute (Accessing a Website)

For each device, assuming active browsing (rendering, interacting), here’s the estimated energy consumption per minute:

• Mobile Phone: 3 watts×160 hours=0.05 watt-hours 
  • Annually, 1 minute per day would be about 18 watt-hours.
• Laptop: 35 watts×160 hours=0.58 watt-hours per minute.
  • Annually, 1 minute per day would be about 211 watt-hours.

3. Putting It Together

For a website with moderate usage:

• Server: Roughly 120–300 kWh per year for hosting.
• Users:
  • If 1,000 users each browse for 1 minute per day:
    • Mobile: 0.05 watt-hours×365×1,000=18,250 watt-hours or 18.25 kWh/year.
    • Laptop: 0.58 watt-hours×365×1,000=211,700 watt-hours or 211.7 kWh/year.

The total energy consumption, in this example, would be about 350–500 kWh per year for the server and client usage combined, heavily dependent on access frequency, hosting environment, and efficiency. Let's break down how much coal, hydro, solar, or nuclear energy is needed to power a website and its annual energy requirements. I'll also touch on the environmental impacts of each energy source.

Assuming an annual energy consumption of 350–500 kWh for a small to medium website (including server and user access).

1. Energy Consumption Translated into Fuel Sources

Coal

• Energy per ton of coal: About 2,460 kWh per ton.

• For 350–500 kWh:

  • Coal required: 500 kWh2460 kWh/ton≈0.20 tons of coal (200 kg) ​ 

• Environmental Impact:

  • CO₂ Emissions: Burning 1 ton of coal produces approximately 2.4 tons of CO₂, so 200 kg would generate roughly 0.48 tons (480 kg) of CO₂.
  • Pollutants: Coal combustion releases sulfur dioxide (SO₂), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter, and mercury, all of which contribute to air pollution, acid rain, and respiratory problems.

Hydroelectric Power

• Energy per cubic meter of water: Depends heavily on specific hydro plants, but an estimate is around 0.01 kWh per cubic meter (varying with water pressure and turbine efficiency).

• For 500 kWh:

  • Water required: Roughly 50,000 cubic meters of water flow, or about 13.2 million gallons.

• Environmental Impact:

  • CO₂ Emissions: Hydropower itself is relatively low in emissions but has ecosystem impacts due to damming, which can disrupt fish populations and natural water flow.
  • Land and Water Usage: Large-scale hydropower projects can flood vast areas, displacing communities and wildlife.

Solar Power

• Energy per solar panel: A standard solar panel (350W) can produce around 1.4 kWh per day in good sunlight.

• Panels required: To meet 500 kWh annually, you’d need about 1 solar panel (assuming adequate sunlight year-round).

• Environmental Impact:

  • CO₂ Emissions: Solar energy has very low ongoing emissions, but solar panel production involves mining and manufacturing, which contribute to emissions.
  • Waste and Resource Use: Solar panels use rare materials and may require careful recycling after their ~25-year lifespan.

Nuclear Power

• Energy per gram of uranium: 1 gram of uranium-235 can produce 24,000 kWh of energy.

• Uranium required: For 500 kWh, you’d need roughly 0.021 grams of uranium-235.

• Environmental Impact:

  • CO₂ Emissions: Nuclear power has negligible CO₂ emissions during operation but produces radioactive waste that requires long-term storage.
  • Safety Concerns: Nuclear energy is associated with risks of accidents and contamination, although modern plants have extensive safety protocols.

Summary Table

Each energy source offers different trade-offs. Solar and nuclear have the lowest emissions but come with resource extraction and safety concerns, while coal has high emissions and pollutants but provides steady energy. Hydroelectric power is renewable but impacts natural ecosystems significantly. 

To estimate cumulative CO₂ emissions from the energy used by websites since 1990, we will go through the steps needed to calculate and visualize the data:

1. Estimate the growth of website numbers from 1990 to 2024.

   • We'll base growth on known historical data and industry reports, with some extrapolation for earlier years.

2. Calculate energy usage per website over time.

   • As websites have become more complex and data-intensive, their energy consumption has also grown, so we'll scale up the average energy per website over time.

3. Estimate CO₂ emissions based on energy consumption.

   • We'll apply an average emissions factor to calculate cumulative emissions for each year, assuming most web hosting has relied on fossil fuels historically.

Assumptions and Average Annual Website Growth Data

Let's break down the growth data with a reasonable estimate for annual energy per website (assuming 350–500 kWh per website per year):

• 1990: ~10 websites
• 1995: ~23,500 websites
• 2000: ~17 million websites
• 2005: ~65 million websites
• 2010: ~206 million websites
• 2015: ~863 million websites
• 2020: ~1.74 billion websites
• 2024: ~2 billion websites

With these figures, We'll calculate cumulative CO₂ emissions by multiplying the average energy per website with the emissions factors. This is a bit complex and we would like to continue to analyze this more, please leave a comment below or on social media if you would like us to conitnue this work and publish further analysis. This would let us know that like us you too care about our enviornment, our planet earth and robust planning to manage for resilience and continuity which will take a group effort. If encourgaed, we will partner with our customers to form a community which keeps a check and come up with awareness, prepardness, and service plans that include the CO₂ and peripheral impacts of the websites we all love to create, and have as an essential tool for commerce, education, entertainment and more.