Weight of emails and digital pollution

Knowing the weight of a Gmail and Outlook email

The weight of an email is made up of the html file and images. The html file weighs only between 20 kb and 60 kb, the total weight of the mail is mainly increased by the attachments.

What is an email made of?

For all the messaging systems, whether it is Gmail, Outlook or others, an email is composed of:

• An e-mail address of the sender or the transmitter of the message.
• An e-mail address of the recipient, i.e. the address to which you are sending the message, including in CC and CCI
• The date the message was sent. Please note that if not filled in, the mail server will add it.
• Received: this is information about all the mail servers through which the mail has passed,
• Reply and forward.
• The subject of the message.
• The body of the message which concerns the message to the recipient.
• The attachments.

The ideal weight for a mail

We remind that the weight of a simple mail is 4g and 50g for a long mail with attachments. To reduce this footprint, you can limit the number and storage of emails but also switch to a simplified email signature especially for internal use in a company.

To be read quickly on a Smartphone, a medium that is increasingly used, the weight of an email should be around 500 kb.

Moreover, there are free tools to know the exact weight of an email and its speed of loading. Among them, you can use the tool: http://tools.pingdom.com/fpt.

It is an online tool that gives you the global weight (html file + images), the detail of the weight of each file of your email and an estimation of the loading time.

5 tips to reduce digital pollution

Digital pollution is made of both the use of computer hardware and our internet browsing activities. So, in order to reduce our digital pollution and its carbon footprint, we give you 5 eco-responsible tips.

Choose your equipment well and maintain it

Buy equipment that really corresponds to your needs and maintain it regularly to extend its life. In addition, and if necessary, have them repaired by changing parts rather than having the reflex to change them. Repairing your appliances means reducing the environmental impact!

This solution allows reducing household waste which represents about 9% of the total waste generated in France over a year.

Lighten your mailbox

We don’t realize it but e-mails generate a significant digital pollution. Therefore, it is advisable to lighten your mailbox, by getting rid of the stock of useless mails, and in the company by using mails without digital signature and notifications.

Think about reconditioning

The manufacturing of a digital device consumes a lot of energy and various materials for its components. Have the reflex of reconditioned equipment, it is on the one hand to buy a recycled equipment, on the other hand not to throw away its equipment but to give it to a reconditioning company for a second life.

Store locally

The use of the Cloud is energy consuming with a high carbon footprint. This is due to the navigation and operation of this equipment. So, as much as possible, store locally by sorting out the data to be kept.

Adopt an eco-energy usage

Finally, to reduce digital pollution in your daily use of your computer: take care not to leave your battery charger plugged in full, reduce the brightness of the screen, put it on standby, and turn it off rather than leave it on. Also, use a lightweight browser.