9b. Develop efficient software
Develop efficient software by building on the best practice described in Principle 8 Design for greener architecture, data and security.
Consider further approaches to reduce the energy consumption of the ‘front end’ (the user-facing part) and the ‘back end’ of a website or application.
Likely Lead Roles
Developer
Sub-actions
9b. (i) Consider server side rendering
9b. (ii) Utilise lazy loading
9b. (iii) Utilise caching where possible
9b. (iv) Use content delivery networks
(i) Consider server side rendering
Server-side rendering (SSR) renders a web page on a server before sending it to the user’s browser. This is different to client-side rendering (CSR), where the browser gets raw data from a server to generate content.
Environmental benefit:
Using server-side rendering reduces processing and energy use.
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(ii) Utilise lazy loading
Lazy loading delays the loading of resources until they are needed, such as when users scroll to them on a page.
Environmental benefit:
Lazy loading can save on data transfer and energy use for the majority of users.
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Current level of adoption
This sub-action is a new one to implement.
Co-benefits
User experience: Lazy loading can improve initial page loading times and optimise memory usage, especially for applications with large datasets.
Trade-offs
Number of requests: Lazy loading may mean the browser has to send multiple requests to the server for content as some users interact with a page.
Development time: It may also mean additional code needs to be added to instruct the browser how to lazy load.
Implementation
Guidance on implementing lazy loading:
https://cloudinary.com/guides/automatic-image-cropping/server-side-rendering-benefits-use-cases-and-best-practices
Further reading
https://www.cloudflare.com/en-gb/learning/performance/what-is-lazy-loading/
(iii) Utilise caching where possible
Caching temporarily stores frequently accessed data in a designated area (“cache”) to enable faster access to it. Caching can focus on:
• the browser
• Content Delivery Networks (CDN)
• Application Programming Interfaces (API)
Environmental benefit:
Using caching can reduce unnecessary data transfer and server load, cutting energy consumption.
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(iv) Use content delivery networks
Content delivery networks (CDNs) are a network of servers that cache static content as close to users as possible.
Environmental benefit:
Using content delivery networks reduce web traffic helping cut energy use.