Carbon Footprint Calculation

Calculation methodology

To estimate a web page's carbon footprint based on its energy consumption

Step 1: Energy consumption estimation

First, it's possible to estimate the website's energy consumption using performance data provided by Google PageSpeed. For example, using the Time to Interactive (TTI) metric to estimate the amount of energy needed to load and interact with the website.

Step 2: Carbon intensity estimation

Next, we need to estimate the carbon intensity of the consumed energy. For this, it's possible to use data provided by the International Energy Agency (IEA) on the average carbon intensity of electricity worldwide. It's also possible to use more specific data for the region where the website's server is located.

Step 3: Footprint calculation

By multiplying the estimated energy consumption by the energy's carbon intensity, it's possible to estimate a website's carbon footprint. Additionally, it's also possible to estimate the amount of gasoline that would have been consumed to produce this energy, and thus, the distance that could have been traveled with this amount of gasoline.