Energy, transport and industry all produce large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in their activities. But you also leave a carbon footprint with your normal daily activities. Watching videos while procrastinating or endlessly writing work emails is also a source of CO₂ emissions that is often not talked about, and you may not have associated them with a carbon footprint either. Like watching videos on YouTube, sending emails produces CO₂ emissions for the storage systems where they are archived. Powering such storage systems uses a lot of electricity, which in most parts of the world is constantly produced from fossil fuels. According to calculations by Eco2Greens, one average text email creates around four grams of CO₂ emissions, which is equivalent to driving more than 300 kilometers in a gas-powered car. You have one more reason to clean out your email inbox of spam, old messages, and unnecessary emails. However, Science Focus has calculated that sending emails only uses about 1.7 % of the energy needed to deliver a piece of paper. This means that despite the carbon footprint, it is sending emails more environmentally friendly than traditional mail.

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