26 DX: Pioneering sustainable web development with Umbraco

In an era where digital sustainability is becoming increasingly crucial, 26 DX, as Umbraco Platinum Partners, is at the forefront of minimising environmental impact in sustainable web development. As the digital landscape continues to grow, so does its carbon footprint. Recognising this challenge, our collaboration with Umbraco been characterised by innovation, commitment, and tangible impact in the fight against climate change. Let's explore how we're leveraging Umbraco's carbon neutral journey to create more sustainable digital solutions for our clients.

Umbraco's sustainability mission: A shared vision

Umbraco's commitment to sustainability aligns perfectly with our own values at 26 DX. The digital world's environmental impact has been a growing concern for both our organizations, and we've long recognized the need for the tech industry to be part of the solution.

Since 2022, when Umbraco introduced their groundbreaking programme to track and measure CO2 emissions, we've been working closely with them to implement these practices in our own projects. This collaboration has allowed us to offer our clients not just cutting-edge web solutions, but environmentally responsible ones as well.

Our partnership with Umbraco in this sustainability mission has been transformative. We've actively participated in refining the measurement methodologies, ensuring they're as accurate and comprehensive as possible. By integrating these measures into our development processes, we're not only reducing the environmental impact of the websites we create but also educating our clients about the importance of sustainable web practices.

This shared vision has also sparked innovation within our team. We've developed new techniques and tools that complement Umbraco's sustainability efforts, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in green web development. As we continue this journey with Umbraco, we're seeing a ripple effect throughout the industry, inspiring others to consider their digital environmental impact and work towards a more sustainable digital future.

Leveraging advanced measurement and tracking

In 2023, Umbraco refined its methodology for tracking emissions, a move that has significantly enhanced our ability to deliver sustainable solutions. By adopting Umbraco's more precise measurement techniques, particularly in areas like business travel emissions and server energy consumption, we're able to provide our clients with a clearer, more comprehensive picture of their digital carbon footprint.

This advanced tracking allows us to identify even the smallest contributors to a website's carbon footprint. For instance, we can now quantify the impact of individual website features, from chatbots to video players, enabling us to make data-driven decisions about which features provide the most value relative to their environmental cost.

We've found that for most of our clients, the biggest sources of carbon emissions come from operating their websites on cloud platforms like Microsoft Azure and Cloudflare. Armed with this knowledge, we're better equipped to devise and implement strategies to reduce these emissions. This might involve optimizing database queries, implementing more efficient caching strategies, or even rethinking entire architectures to minimize server load.

Collaborative efforts for sustainable cloud operations

As implementation specialists, we're not just deploying Umbraco solutions - we're actively involved in optimising them for sustainability. We work closely with Umbraco, Azure, and other partners to fine-tune our clients' setups for maximum efficiency and minimal environmental impact. This collaborative approach allows us to leverage the strengths of each platform while mitigating their potential environmental drawbacks.

We're particularly excited about Microsoft Azure's goal of becoming CO2 neutral by 2025. This aligns perfectly with our mission to provide sustainable digital solutions, and we're actively helping our clients prepare for and benefit from this shift. We're exploring ways to leverage Azure's renewable energy commitments and energy-efficient data centers to further reduce the carbon footprint of our clients' websites.

Our collaboration extends beyond just technical implementations. We're also involved in ongoing discussions with these partners about future sustainability initiatives, ensuring that we're always at the cutting edge of sustainable web development practices.

26 DX and the Umbraco Community Sustainability Team

We're proud to be key contributors to the Umbraco Community Sustainability Team, established in 2023. 26 DX, an Umbraco Platinum Partner and part of the B Corp certified MSQ Partners Group, exemplifies this collaborative approach to sustainability.

Our Head of Sustainability, Neil Clark, plays a crucial role in this initiative. Through this team, we're not just implementing sustainable practices - we're helping to shape them.

 We've been instrumental in several key achievements:

1. Released a sustainability package for content editors, allowing them to estimate the emissions produced by their webpages. This tool empowers content creators to consider the environmental impact of their work actively.
2. The team has documented best practices for low carbon Umbraco websites, providing a valuable resource for developers looking to create more sustainable digital solutions.
3. We have provided feedback about Umbraco's own website, leading to significant emissions reductions. This demonstrates a commitment to practising what they preach and continuously improving their own digital footprint.
4. The team has run a successful low carbon website challenge for the Umbraco community, encouraging innovation and competition in sustainable web development.

These initiatives not only contribute directly to reducing the carbon footprint of Umbraco-based websites but also help to spread awareness and knowledge about sustainable web development practices throughout the Umbraco community and beyond.

Real-world impact: 26 DX in action

As Umbraco Platinum Partners, we're pushing the boundaries of sustainable web development. Our approach goes beyond giving users control over their experience; we've committed to making the planet a stakeholder in every project, including our own website.

We believe there's no room for compromise when it comes to building sustainable solutions - they must be low carbon by default. This philosophy drives our design decisions and technical choices, allowing us to create engaging, beautiful, and sustainable experiences for our clients.

• Our design decisions for sustainability include:
• Careful consideration of image usage, ensuring relevance and utility
• Potential future implementation of user-controlled image display
• Thoughtful approach to rich media integration
• Digital-first brand decisions with sustainability in mind, including font and colour choices

Our technical decisions for eco-friendly development encompass:

Adoption of serverless architecture and headless content delivery for on-demand computing

• UK-based hosting to reduce data travel distance
• Image optimisation and use of newer, smaller file formats
• Reduction of third-party dependencies to minimise data transfer
• Regular content reviews to ensure relevance and necessity

This real-world application of 26 DX’s sustainability principles showcases the tangible impact that thoughtful web development can have on reducing digital carbon footprints. It serves as an inspiring example for other developers and companies looking to create more sustainable digital solutions.

Leveraging the Sustainability Dashboard for our clients

We're excited about Umbraco's Sustainability Dashboard for Umbraco Cloud users. As implementation experts, we help our clients make the most of this innovative tool, enabling them to monitor and improve their websites' environmental impact.

We guide our clients in interpreting the valuable insights and metrics provided by the dashboard, helping them align their digital presence with their sustainability goals. Our proficiency with the technical aspects of the dashboard, including its use of Cloud Carbon Footprint (CCF) and sophisticated emission allocation methods, allows us to provide nuanced, actionable advice for reducing digital carbon footprints.

Practical steps for greener websites: Our approach

For our clients looking to decrease their carbon emission impact, we recommend and implement several practical steps:

1. Regular Monitoring: We set up and help interpret the Sustainability Dashboard, ensuring our clients stay informed about their website's carbon footprint.
2. Implement Recommendations: We stay abreast of the latest sustainability best practices provided by Umbraco and the Community Sustainability Team, implementing them in our clients' projects.
3. Optimise Resource Usage: We conduct thorough analyses of website resource consumption, identifying and optimising high-usage areas.

Conclusion: 26 DX as your sustainability partner

As Umbraco Platinum Implementation partners, 26 DX is uniquely positioned to guide your journey towards more sustainable web solutions. We combine our deep understanding of Umbraco's capabilities with our commitment to environmental responsibility, offering you digital solutions that are not just powerful and beautiful, but also kind to our planet.

Our involvement in shaping Umbraco's sustainability initiatives, our hands-on experience in implementing low-carbon websites, and our continuous engagement with the latest sustainability practices make us ideal partners for organisations looking to reduce their digital carbon footprint.

By choosing 26 DX, you're not just getting a web development partner - you're gaining a sustainability-focused ally who can help you navigate the complex landscape of digital eco-responsibility. Together, we can create stunning, efficient websites that contribute to a more sustainable digital ecosystem and play a crucial role in the global fight against climate change.

Ready to make your Umbraco website greener or learn more about sustainable web development practices? Get in touch with us at 26 DX. Let's build a more sustainable digital future together.