Concept Development

When first pulling together a research proposal, my intention was to investigate how to measure the carbon footprint of cloud computing for the purposes of SME reporting.  This idea was sparked by a combination of work-related factors: I volunteered to take on carbon reporting for my employer and we recently needed to upgrade our Sharepoint storage capacity because we’d exceeded our quota. It struck me that cloud storage is a resource we think about far less than recycling paper when we blithely send 50MB emails to half-a-dozen colleagues.

This was in early February, and I thought the solution would entail sourcing figures from cloud service providers such as Microsoft, Apple and Adobe or, alternatively, working out the CO2-equivalent per terabyte.

Not so.

An initial literature review revealed exactly this problem has been studied and debated in equal measure since at least 2010 (Giordanelli and Mastroianni, 2010); that companies as large as Etsy struggled with a lack of data (Sommer et al, 2020); and that anyone with a bottom-up usage approach had it monetised either behind a paywall (Google Cloud, Adobe Experience, Microsoft 365) or as a consulting service (Greenpixie, 2024).

Flipping the perspective to SME’s usage and attitude’s to green cloud computing had already been researched as a Master’s thesis. (Say, 2018)

I considered switching to individuals but the variability in households is significant in terms of gaming devices, televisions, streaming services, etc with much the same problems in terms of getting current, comparable figures from suppliers.

The solution came the next time I opened up my work spreadsheet and saw the blank space I’d set aside to one-day figure out how we should account for the 80% of my colleagues who, like myself, work from home.

Audit of Calculators and Constructs

An audit of individual carbon footprint calculators confirmed a gap. Likewise, with the resources accessible to SMEs (without engaging an external consultant).
My interviews with industry experts confirmed:

• Carbon accounting is new, complicated and tough to communicate
• Carbon footprints are best estimates and openness about methodology matters
• ICT usage is the elephant in the room
• Marketers are uniquely positioned to share and shape conversation about sustainability

From experience, I was aware that Irish government agencies frequently rely on the larger sample averages of UK government data for areas such as transportation. Reviewing the latest release of figures led me to a 2020 methodology for companies to account for their “homeworkers.”

This approach needed to be tailored to Irish households which have a fundamentally different energy profile to the UK and, indeed, the EU. Also, the methodology existed as a written approach, not a numeric one.

Given the lack of a calculator, I resolved to create one.

Target Audience

My primary audience is for individuals who work from home. They may be curious about their carbon footprint or they may need evidence to support their homeworking. The calculator allows them to include personal factors such as commute length, vehicle type, and household arrangements.

The secondary audience is Irish businesses seeking localised figures to include in a more macro-calculation.

Choice of Platform

My portfolio platform is WordPress because it enabled me to create a dedicated URL and tailor all design elements and navigation. I chose to use the Elementor builder within WordPress because I’d never used it before and I wished to broaden my web developer skillset.

Learning Experiences

I was overly ambitious in thinking I could create an online calculator in the timeframe. The Excel mock-up took longer to build than I anticipated. When I discussed this frustration with a fellow student, she suggested I try embedding the Excel form directly. This hadn’t occurred to me and I was delighted to discover it’s a viable option, if short-term.

A particular moment of doubt hit  when one survey respondent claimed that “hyperfixating on individual carbon footprints borders” was “counterproductive” and “missed the point”, and that I was effectively creating “a handy calculator telling [people] how guilty they should feel about remote working.”

While it is fair to acknowledge the world’s biggest carbon polluters are countries and mega-companies, it’s unwise to disavow the power of an individual to promote change. Case in point: Greta Thunberg. Empowerment goes hand in glove with education and this portfolio seeks to break down complicated concepts into more edible chucks. If nothing else, the fifty-odd people who completed my survey will now think a little differently about their ICT usage!

The positive aspect to the feedback is that it incited me to add a ‘so what?’ element to the calculator. Now, it doesn’t just deliver a number. It compares an individual’s commute to their home working footprint and lets them work out their optimal home/office ratio.

Next Steps

Post-submission, I’ll be researching the best means of creating an online app to upgrade from the Excel wireframe to a more user-friendly version. As this is a standalone website, I can provide this as a free resource to others looking, as I was, for a specific tool. Mindful of this, I also hope to expand the particulars from the base scenario to one that lets users enter their home workstation lighting methods, device lists, and household heating/cooling methods, as below: