E-mails
There are multiple ways to build good habits of dealing with your e-mails:
- Limit the amount of e-mails you’re sending
- Limit the amount of people in cc (stick to absolutely necessary recipients only)
- Avoid pictures in the signature of your e-mail
- Consider not using a signature if a recipient already knows you and/or informal communication
- Unsubscribe from unnecessary mailing lists (such as promotions and newsletters)
- Regularly delete old unnecessary e-mails and folders, empty the e-mail trash bin, as well as unnecessary attached documents. Consider setting up an auto-delete of sent e-mails and the trash bin in regular times in your e-mail box
Sharing your files
Here are a few solutions to optimize the way you are sending big files:
- Consider sending a link to the file on your drive (https://seafile.unistra.fr/) instead of attaching heavy files (> 1Mo) to your e-mail.
- Compress your files before sending (https://pdfcompressor.com)
- Limit the use of big images and big margins to make your file lighter
Polls and on-line forms
While using Evento for event planning (https://evento.renater.fr/), consider to remove unnecessary automatic notifications about new replies for you and for the participants.
Internet search
It is possible to adopt a more eco-friendly approach to surfing the web:
- Consider alternative eco-friendly search engines: Ecosia (https://www.ecosia.org/ - This organization uses the profits to plant trees), Lilo (https://www.lilo.org/ - Finances sustainability projects of your choice) and others. It is possible to add them as an extension to your regular browser.
- Use browser bookmarks for the websites that you are using on regular basis. Accessing a website from bookmarks instead of using a search agent reduces the CO2 emission of one internet search by 4
- Regularly close the tabs that you are no longer using
- Block the automatic video play (autoplay) in your browser settings (click here to know how to do it)
- DO regularly delete the history of your browser, downloaded files and cookies (or set an automatic timer)
- But DON’T clear your cache too often
Data storage
Storing your data “on the cloud” seems very easy and we tend to forget about the CO2 footprint of constant syncing-up
- Regularly clean your folders on the cloud services (SeaFile, iCloud, Google Drive, etc)
- Only keep the necessary files on the cloud and choose to keep most of your data locally (phone, computer, hard drive, USB flash drive)
Computer
Here are a few tips on how to reduce the consumption of your computer:
- Do not change your computer too often
- Tune the Sleep Mode settings of your screen and/or computer to economize the electricity during the working day
- For the Sleep Mode of your device chose the simple black screen instead of any animation
- During your on-line meetings, consider not to use the camera when not necessary. Switching off your camera will reduce the CO2 emission per meeting by 96%. (Resources: Conservation and Recycling, 2021;167:105389 DOI:10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.105389)
- Turn off your computer and (!) the screen in the end of your working day if you do not use them
- Turn off the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth functions while not using them
- Give preference to the equipment with Ecolabels (more info by clicking here or https://www.ecolabels.fr/quest-ce-quun-ecolabel/)