Sustain WP Bonus episode: Grid-aware Websites Project
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Nov 19, 2025 
Hannah Smith, Director of Operations at the Green Web Foundation, dives into the innovative Grid-Aware Websites project. She shares insights on transitioning from carbon awareness to grid awareness, explaining how this approach better reflects energy realities. Hannah discusses the collaborative advisory board's impact across various CMS platforms and the development of a practical WordPress plugin for grid-aware features. With an emphasis on user engagement and the importance of adaptable assets, she highlights the potential of grid-aware sites to inspire mindful digital behavior.
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Pivot From Carbon To Grid Came From Critique
- The GridAware idea grew from prior carbon-aware experiments and collaboration with Ishmael Valesko.
- Hannah used those critiques to pivot the project from carbon-aware to grid-aware thinking.
Grid Awareness Beats Carbon Tunnel Vision
- Grid-aware goes beyond carbon metrics by considering how the electricity grid actually operates.
- Hannah Smith argues systems-aware design avoids narrow carbon-only fixes and supports grid resilience.
Build Reusable Toolkits, Not One-Off Demos
- Experiment with websites that serve different versions based on grid metrics to learn real impacts.
- Package code, docs and UX examples so others can reuse and iterate on your work.