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Going Green In A Digital World

14th June 2023

 

Did you know that your carbon footprint goes beyond the places you go and the things you buy? It also follows you online and into a lot of the things you do in the digital world – so your business could be a lot less eco-friendly than you think.

When we put it that way, it’s easy to give up on the idea of being an environmentally friendly business before you’ve even begun. It’s like getting into ‘The Good Place’ – is it even possible to make a good decision and a positive difference in the modern world? It can feel like there’s not much point sometimes, and that all of the small things we could do won’t make a difference.

But that’s where you’re wrong. Even the smallest change is worth making, and it all contributes to a healthier, better world. If you’re still not convinced, then we want to share the journey Tracy and Hampton Digital Services have taken into the world of sustainability and environmental action.

The Hampton Digital Services Journey

Hampton Digital Services was first started by Tracy Hampton. Looking to move away from the world of IT support, Tracy wanted to use her tech skills and knowledge to help smaller businesses. She loved building websites, and so that’s what she decided to do. Several years later, and she’s still at it, but with a team around her and a big mission.

Because here’s the thing you might not know about Tracy. She’s very passionate about the environment. Growing up in New Zealand, she was brought up understanding her impact on the world around her, being taught to respect the environment and exploring all of the wonderful great outdoors the country has to offer. No wonder she loves the outdoors, hiking and camping! But this attitude of being eco-friendly stayed with her when she moved to the UK, and she’s been chipping away at her impact day by day.

In her personal life, Tracy is an avid user of ‘waste reducing’ services like Too Good To Go and OddBox. She and her husband both drive electric cars, grow some of their own fruit and veg, are mindful of the brands they buy, and spend a lot of time educating others on the value of sustainability in the modern world. It always went beyond a passion – caring about the planet was a part of her identity since she was small, and the pandemic really helped solidify that for her.

A Switch In Thinking

In 2021, Tracy decided that her journey into sustainability shouldn’t just stay in her personal life. She wanted the business to be as environmentally friendly and carbon-neutral as possible too. She started with how she ran it. Moving into a converted garden room in her home, with big windows to let all the natural light in and solar panels to provide most of the power she could need. There is no water or gas connected to the office at all, which made it about as carbon-neutral as it’s possible to be!

Then Tracy turned her attention to her suppliers. As a web developer, most of her work was in the digital space, and she was shocked to see just how much of an impact digital activity has on the environment. Particularly website hosting, where a single data centre can produce as much carbon as a town with 50,000 residents. In that model, every click on a website she built produced anywhere from a few grams to several hundred kilograms of CO2. She searched for a solution and found 20i – a data centre run by 100% renewable energy, producing 0 carbon footprint. By switching all of her past and future clients to this data centre, she could provide green web hosting and cut both her and her client’s carbon footprint significantly.

Now, Hampton Digital Services is greener than ever, and working to become more so. Tracy and her team have been working with several organisations to obtain green credentials, including Mossy Earth and Ecologi, has become members of local business environmental groups like Surrey Hills and are starting to work towards bCorp accreditation.

So yes, it started small for Hampton Digital Services, but by making those changes in a small and gradual way, Tracy and her team were able to minimise their carbon footprint and improve their business without disruption. And the small changes really do add up! In a digital world, it’s easy to forget that what we do online can have an impact on the environment, which is what Hampton Digital Services are now on a mission to prove. Why not join the journey and see where it takes you?

To find out more and book a discovery call contact Tracy by email at tracy@hamptondigitalservices.com