How We Cut Our Own Website's Carbon: A QED Case Study
Our own website:
what we changed to cut its carbon per page view
In December 2022, our own homepage produced 0.24g of CO2 each time someone loaded it. After a rebuild and steady tuning since, it now produces 0.03g (tested October 2026).
This page sets out exactly what we changed, what it did to speed and enquiries, and what we’d do differently, with the dates and tools behind every figure so you can check them yourself.
Why we changed direction
How environmentally friendly website came about for QED
One Christmas I was laid up with pneumonia, with plenty of time to think and not much else to do. I kept coming back to kaizen, the Japanese idea of small, steady improvements, and to one question: could the websites I build do less damage without losing anything that matters to the people using them?
The answer was yes, and the reason is fairly unglamorous. Most of a website’s carbon comes from the data it sends and the work it asks servers and phones to do. Cut the waste and the site gets lighter and faster, and it usually ranks better too.
The environmentally friendly website and the better site turn out to be the same site, so that’s how QED builds now, starting with our own.
Design brief
The Challenge
What we changed, step by step
Let's talk about your website-
Eco Hosting
We were already on great eco hosting, which Krystal says it runs on renewable energy and plants trees for its customers. That's the host's own claim, and we treat offsetting as the last step, not the first.
88Number of trees we've planted on behalf of our clients -
Themes and page builders
Previously we'd buy themes off the shelf, and then modify them for our clients. This often brought unwanted bulk, weight and unnecessary styling. We now start with a blank lightweight theme and build in only what is required.
1Themes now used50+Websites built using this technique -
Images.
Converting images to next-gen formats isn't glamorous, but it's where substantial savings can be made: JPEG/PNG → WebP. Then add lazy loading and resize to display size.
-
Third-party scripts.
Which ones went? Social media widgets, chat widgets and Jetpack analytics. I also narrowed down which cookie pop-ups and analytics plugins I use.
-
Caching.
Even though the server already uses LiteSpeed caching, I now add one of the best caching plugins on the market to make QED environmentally friendly website even more efficient.
60-80%How much the main parts of my client's sites shrink by when using caching80%Reduction in data transfered for repeat visitors -
Fonts.
Does a website need the full family of every font it uses, or just a couple of weights plus bold and italic?
3The most fonts I use on any website
The Proof
Test our eco web design credentials
Completed project
Plenty of agencies add a leaf to the logo and call themselves green or eco friendly. Some agency sustainability pages produce several times the carbon of an average website.
You don’t need to take our word for any of this.
Website carbon can be measured with free public tools, so run our homepage through the Website Carbon Calculator, then do the same for any agency that calls itself eco-friendly.
Groups like Design Declares show what treating the climate crisis as a design brief looks like in practice, and they do it in the open. We think that’s the standard to hold everyone to, including us.
If you want the thinking behind all this, start with what sustainable web design is, or read the business case for eco website design.
Key technical tools
- Ecograder: Gives in depth details of how and why they arrive at their score, includes page weight, images, JS & CSS imapcts
- WebsiteCarbon.com: Gives you a number and a ranking globally, unfortunately it doesn’t give you the break down
- Design declares: Great for eco-friendly website design resources glbally
Business data
Performance evidence
Environmental &
Performance report
Let's build something that works
We’ll run a free carbon and speed check on your website and show you where the easy wins are. No obligation and no jargon. Get in touch, or have a look at our website design packages.
