Green web design and hosting

What powers Aardvark Web

Everything that runs Aardvark Web and its client sites sits on infrastructure that is powered by 100% renewable electricity. The word “matched” matters, so here is how each part works.

• Client sites: Krystal. Krystal hosts the sites I build for clients, and says its hosting runs on 100% renewable energy, matched with certificates.
• Servers: Hetzner, Helsinki. The Finnish data centre is supplied under a wind and hydro contract. Hetzner doesn’t claim to be carbon neutral, and neither do I.
• My home lab: Octopus Energy. A 100% renewable tariff, matched with certificates and backed by Octopus’s own generation and power purchase agreements.

Matched means the supplier buys renewable certificates equal to the electricity used. It doesn’t mean every electron came from a wind farm. It’s still how renewable supply is verified in the UK and Europe, and it’s what the claim rests on.

Why a static site uses less

Most websites build each page when you ask for it: a database query, some code, a stack of plugins, then the page. A static site did all that once, in advance. Serving a ready-made file is a fraction of the work, and the file is small because I don’t ship page builders or advertising and third-party tracking scripts.

I measured this site on 29 October 2026 with the same method the Website Carbon Calculator uses, which estimates emissions from the bytes a visitor downloads:

• Home page: about 491 KB, an estimated 0.042 g of CO₂ per view, rated A, cleaner than 91% of pages tested.
• Prince Cleaning case study: about 227 KB, an estimated 0.019 g per view, rated A+, cleaner than 96% of pages tested.

These are estimates from page weight, not a meter on a server. They count files from this site only, with text compressed, and leave out the small self-hosted analytics script. The home page carries nine screenshots, which is most of its weight. The Website Carbon Calculator explains the model.

What this doesn’t cover

• It isn’t carbon-free. Your phone or laptop, the network between us and the hardware all took energy to make and run. I can’t change that.
• It covers what I run. That’s the infrastructure behind Aardvark Web and client sites. Anything a client runs elsewhere, their email for example, is outside it.
• Matched isn’t the same as physically supplied. See above.
• Figures are estimates, and will move as the pages change. The date is given so you can see how old they are.

Carbon literate

I completed Carbon Literacy training and was certified as a Carbon Literate individual on 17 April 2024. The certification is personal: it’s mine, not an accreditation Aardvark Web holds as an organisation. The Carbon Literacy Project runs the scheme.

Questions

Is a carbon-free website possible?

No. Every website uses some energy to store, send and display it. What I can do is keep that small, and make sure the electricity behind my part of it is renewable. That's what Aardvark Web does, so I say small and renewably powered, not carbon-free.

Is Aardvark Web hosting really powered by renewable energy?

Yes, on a matched basis. The data centres and the supplier behind my infrastructure buy renewable electricity or certificates to cover what they use. Client sites run on Krystal, servers on Hetzner in Helsinki, and my home lab on Octopus Energy. Matched means certificates and supply contracts, not that every electron came from a wind farm.

Is a static website better for the environment?

Generally it uses less energy per visit. A static page is a ready-made file, so no database query or code has to run each time someone visits. This site's home page was measured at about 491 KB, an estimated 0.042 g of CO2 per view, cleaner than 91% of pages tested.

What does Carbon Literate mean?

Paul Taylor completed Carbon Literacy training and was certified as a Carbon Literate individual on 17 April 2024. The certification is personal. Aardvark Web does not hold an organisational accreditation.