Our site has a low environmental impact

On our website, we allow each user to choose what they want to consume. From raw content without images, it’s up to each user to decide whether they want to display visuals, listen to podcasts, etc.

For that purpose, we placed a sticky button at the bottom of the screen, making it easy to switch from one mode to another. Each user can thus browse the chosen interface and save more or less energy. 

We don’t want to impose anything, but simply raise the question of usefulness in order to increase awareness of digital pollution. This may help to gradually change uses and behaviors. 

We know that simply adopting a frugal approach at interface level is not enough to minimize a website’s environmental footprint. The architecture also needs to be redesigned and optimized. A static site will always be more eco-friendly than a site using a CMS to manage display and input. But ours requires the publication of news and regular updates.  

That’s why we sought an alternative solution and opted for Astro, a static site generator, and Strapi, a CMS that enables us to feed our site autonomously without needlessly weighing it down.

The artistic direction is contingent on the concept and is subdivided into two, depending on the user’s choice. Each page thus has two versions, one of which consumes less energy than the other. The message is clear and frugality is an essential feature. 

However, irrespective of the version used, the design remains sober, colors are practically non-existent, and the chosen font keeps the weight down. We have also reduced the quantity and weight of visuals by choosing an appropriate format.   

The goal is to select content that reduces the site’s impact while meeting users’ precise needs (useful, sustainable, accessible content).

We have thus reduced the number of photos and questioned the very use of those photos. We also chose not to have any video, and opted for the audio format to convey certain messages. You can thus find podcasts featuring our employees and others who share our vision. 
 

We gradually measure the impact of our good practices. How? With measurement tools such as Lighthouse, Greenframe and EcoIndex.  

This subsequently helps us to test out our ideas and assess their performance at each step, in order to achieve the desired ecodesign level. We thus progressed step-by-step in an approach requiring compromises, nuances and pragmatism.

Our website host is more environment-friendly, with a PUE close to 1. 

All the energy that comes into the datacenter is thus used directly to operate the servers and therefore the website. For instance, there is no air conditioning: the servers are cooled through oil baths.

We have also chosen to permanently switch off our input server. We only switch on the platform when we want to add new content or news.