Eco-design approach

The site https://www.ensea.fr was designed and developed with an eco-design approach in order to limit its environmental footprint. The approach is based on the RGESN (General Reference Framework for Ecodesign of Digital Services) published by the Interministerial Mission for Responsible Digital Technology as well as on the reference framework for 115 good practices made by the GreenIT collective.

The eco-design of the site is part of the responsible digital strategy of theENSEA, it is a continuous improvement process which aims to reduce the environmental impact of websites by relying on the monitoring of standardized indicators.

The approach was led by theENSEA with the support of GreenIT certified people from the company Net.Com.

• The service evaluation took place on 10th December 2024
• The RGESN compliance rate is 82% - Download the report
• The GREENIT / 115 good practices compliance rate is 75% - Download the report

These results are likely to change over time; the quantification of environmental impacts presented is a snapshot taken at a given time.

Recommended in the report on software obsolescence that the Government submitted to Parliament in June 2021, the General Reference Framework for Ecodesign of Digital Services is a commitment of the government's "Digital and Environment" roadmap published in February 2021. Led by the Interministerial Digital Directorate (DINUM), the Ministry of Ecological Transition, but also ADEME and the Institute for Responsible Digital Technology (INR), this reference framework has two main objectives:

• Combating the obsolescence of user equipment and network or server equipment
• Reduce consumption of IT and energy resources

Founded in 2004, the Green IT collective is the association (law of 1901) that brings together experts behind the initiatives of digital sobriety, responsible digital technology, eco-design of digital services, and slow.tech. We are also interested in low-tech, and more generally in an alternative digital future, more desirable for our children.

The Green IT collective is a place for reflection on the challenges of the meeting between digital technology and sustainable development, what is commonly called responsible digital technology (definition).

We cover technical topics – eco-design of digital equipment and services, reuse and recycling, etc. – and best practices to implement in your daily professional life, but also the uses and role of digital technology in moving towards a leaner, circular economy (cradle to cradle), then towards a positive economy.

We have created specific colleges to address certain themes, for example the responsible digital design collective for eco-design and responsible design of digital services and the Green IT Club to bring together the “champions” of Green IT, digital sobriety and responsible digital technology in businesses and communities.

For 20 years, GreenIT.fr has been producing books, exclusive studies, methods, benchmarks, operational tools, guides, glossaries, and white papers, among other things, to help individuals, organizations, and public authorities take action. All of these tools are benchmarks.

We also advise and encourage public authorities to legislate and act to build a sustainable and more desirable digital future for our children.

Since its inception, the Green IT collective has been open to everyone. Our goal is to foster exchanges and the sharing of knowledge, best practices, feedback, news, and more to enable you to take concrete action on a daily basis, at home or in your company.

Finally, the Green IT Collective does not represent the interests of any professional organization or economic or political actor. To strengthen this independence, the Green IT Collective is structured as a non-profit association (French law of 1901) and is deliberately not funded. As a result, we are the only completely neutral and independent actor.

The eco-design approach implemented by theENSEA on this site is based on a methodology and a set of best practices described in the general reference framework for eco-design of digital services (RGESN) and the 115 best practices of the GreenIT reference framework. This approach helps reduce the impact of the website on the environment: greenhouse gas emissions, primary energy consumption, resource consumption and pressure on fresh water.

The key actions were:

• An assessment of the RGESN and GreenIT criteria during all stages of the site's creation: Specification, Design, Implementation, Production, Use, Support / maintenance / end of life
• An ergonomic and graphic design as close as possible to the recommendations of sobriety and frugality (a simple and uniform design, optimized user journeys).
• The implementation of an editorial charter incorporating the constraints of content sobriety (adapted content, no unnecessary images, videos or animations).
• Optimization of necessary resources (playing video or audio content only at the user's request, compressed documents and images, use of interface components, optimization of the weight of each page).
• This approach particularly promotes the longevity of equipment (mobile phones, computers) of citizens using the sites by limiting the obsolescence of devices.

Overall, the site is designed to limit the resources required to display a page or use a feature.

The main challenge is to ensure that this website works on the oldest possible terminals and under various connectivity conditions:

• Work on UX (user experience) by offering access to content in a different way
• The most intuitive navigation possible to reduce the time spent finding information
• Optimizing the number of maximum server requests per screen
• Optimizing the maximum resource weight per screen
• All content is viewable on mobile devices at a minimum. The site adapts to all screen sizes.
• Maximum compression of images and videos
• Proposal of a text alternative to videos
• Manually delete obsolete content: news, calendar entries, for example.

• Type, year of construction or target versions of supported user equipment: any mobile equipment dating from at least 2014.
• Minimum connection for comfortable access and use of the service: 3G for mobile and 512 Kbs for fixed connection.
• Adapts to different screen sizes: Yes, minimum screen size 320 pixels wide.

L'ENSEA uses the most standard mechanisms possible. All desktop and mobile browsers must be supported. This ensures that the website is compatible with any device that can run a compatible web browser:

• PC Pentium 4 or higher, 2 GB RAM minimum for Windows (minimum for Firefox and Chrome)
• Mac compatible with MacOS X High Sierra or later (Mac hardware from 2009 or later)
• Android 6.0 or later mobile device (2015 or later mobile devices)
• Mobile device IOS 10.3 or later (devices from 2012 or later)

In particular, the service has been successfully tested (in real life or by emulation) on:

• Operating System: Windows 7 and above, MacOS X High Sierra and above, Linux
• Browsers: Chrome/Chromium, Firefox (latest version or ESR), Edge, Opera, Safari 11 or +

The product therefore commits to a display adapted to different resolutions:

• Any user in consultation: smartphone 360 ​​x 800 minimum, tablet and computer
• Offer holder: tablet 800 x 1080 minimum or computer 1366 x 768 minimum