> You don't need this code!<p>> By default, all browsers look for a file /favicon.ico in a site's root directory.<p>That must be a drop in the ocean compared to all the requests for non-existent favicons thanks to this behavior... (Which can be prevented via [2], apparently!)<p>> 180x180 is the largest icon size any iOS device requires. Other devices will downscale the image to fit.<p>Using more data (which uses both energy and is often still paid!) and some compute resources to downscale, which wears out the battery of mobile devices, requiring a swap or incentivizing people to upgrade sooner than they otherwise would. Better reason about the externalities thoroughly when throwing out vague statements like "more environmentally friendly websites"!<p>By the same author: "why lowercase letters save data" [1], "Show you how I came to the conclusion that title case on hacker news emits the equivalent yearly carbon as a car driving the width of Sri Lanka." – featuring sub-headlines rendered using some squiggly font effect powered by an SVG filter that probably uses enough collective renderer CPU/GPU cycles to drive the same car to the moon and back.<p>I get and applaud the desire to make the world a better place. But something that people seem to overlook too often with short-sighted initiatives such as this is that one of the most finite resources is human attention. Making somebody feel good about having spent time and effort to implement symbolic/effectively useless measures means that that time and effort won't be available elsewhere. Efficiency matters even in saving the world. (On the other hand, I guess this stunt did get me thinking, proving once again that one of the most efficient ways to find a better solution is to put a wrong statement on the internet :)<p>[1] <a href="https://endtimes.dev/why-lowercase-letters-save-data/" rel="nofollow">https://endtimes.dev/why-lowercase-letters-save-data/</a><p>[2] <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43705304">https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43705304</a>