It's amazing to think that since we launched 10:10 last September, more than 92,000 people in 148 countries have signed up to the campaign and agreed to cut their carbon. One of the reasons word has spread so quickly is Twitter, which has been invaluable in helping people share their carbon-cutting tips. So when, a few months back, our webteam added a clever Twitter feed to the 10:10 website sharing the most recent #1010 Tweets, it seemed like a pretty good idea.

There was, however, an issue, and bear with me because here, as they say, comes 'the science': The 10:10 website grabs the most recent Tweets tagged with #1010 and puts them all on a vertical list. It then places a block in front to hide them, with a narrow window cut out of it (the size of a single Tweet). The whole list is then scrolled up in steps, revealing the fabulous, informative #1010 Twitter feed.

Somewhat ironically, it soon transpired that 10:10's Twitter feed was pretty demanding on CPU useage, particularly for those viewing the 10:10 site in Firefox. Users' overworked PCs and Macs would get hot, using more energy, and causing the computers' internal fans to switch on to cool them. Not good at all!

So, props to Canadian IT whizz Schien Dong of Antradar Software, who got in touch with 10:10 HQ to tell us he'd found a solution to the issue, having visited our site after being given a 10:10 Tag by a friend.

Schien kindly wrote a plug-in for our site, which leaves tweets where they are, but effectively moves the narrow window instead. This turns out to be far less CPU-intensive and therefore saves a whole stack of energy.

"It's an inconvenient, if not ironic, fact of your website: it was using up way too much CPU power," says Schien. "The Twitter Feed box at the bottom of your web site was mostly responsible for such consumption. As Twitter feeds become popular, more and more sites are using the type of plugins you were using. The first graph shows CPU useage from the old version of the site, the second shows the new once the new plugin is installed."

CPU usage before Schien's plugin.

CPU usage with Schien's plugin.

Schien also written some similar code for the image slider on the UK homepage, which means 10:10ers are now having a cooler, quieter and less carbon-intensive online experience. Result!