Green Web Hosts
I am starting to see more web hosts advertising services as “environmentally friendly.” I am not sure whether this type of thing comes from west coast environmental consciousness or company marketing departments. Perhaps some of both.
Last year we reported on a solar-powered web hosting company, AISO.Net, has chosen data storage and virtualization software firm, Sirius Computer Solutions, to enhance its data center and reduce electricity usage by providing a high end, scalable infrastructure solution for its dedicated and shared web hosting clients. AISO.Net says that they are:
a reliable and responsible green web hosting company. We have made a strong commitment to help fight pollution and preserving our natural resources. Solar panels run our data center and office, not energy credits.
There is also wind powered hosting from sustainable.
Green Hosting claims they are Canada’s “first Internet hosting service powered 100% by green energy.”
When I was growing up in a small, rural, american farm town, we were just thankful to have electricity because it wasn’t all that long ago that folks were using candles. We didn’t obsess over the actual electrons consumed to power our electrical devices which were usually black and white televisions, radios that would pick up one station and shop tools out back. Not that I miss the cliches of “affordable” and “dependable,” but all this has me wondering if we are getting a little overfocused on the minutiae, major on the minors, you know. Do you think environmental web hosting is a waste of time or does it make sense?
More on the subject of green web hosting…
Says Travis Stoliker
January 29, 2007 @ 270512:46 pm
Nice story.
Fyi: small typo
“Canada based Green Hosting claims they are Canada’s “first Internet hosting service powered 100% by green enerty.” I believe you mean “energy.”
Says WebHostingFinds Guy Behind the Scenes
January 29, 2007 @ 270712:55 pm
Thank you Travis. I am still asleep this morning… oops, I just noticed it is not morning anymore. Time for lunch.
Says Stephan Schildberg
February 16, 2007 @ 32539:46 am
We from ecologee.net have dedicated a whole website on green hosting business and keep track of them. We see an emerging market rising these days. This has a new quality to choose from different ISP’s environmental features too!
Please join the movement host green and persuade your datacenter to think about a a green strategy.
Stephan Schildberg
ecologee.net
Says Michael Bloch
March 4, 2007 @ 376010:09 pm
I love seeing green web hosting getting greater coverage! Thanks for this post!
I’m the Business Operations Manager of ThinkHost, Inc. We’re powered by 100% renewable energy; and we take it a little further with donating 10% of our gross annual revenue value back into community projects, some of them environmental. Added to that, some of our team are involved with environmental projects in their personal time.
In regards to your question, “Do you think environmental web hosting is a waste of time or does it make sense?”; while I’m understandably biased, I think it makes a lot of sense. While the electricity to power the average web site would be quite small, when you multiply that by millions and millions of sites, consumption is appreciable.
In fact, the electricity consumption for data center servers just two years ago was equivalent to 14 coal fired 1,000-megawatt power plants. That’s a lot of carbon (and mercury and other toxins) being spewed forth into the atmosphere.
Aside from environmental issues, it’s good business sense. Consumers are becoming increasingly aware of global warming and gravitating towards companies who demonstrate some sort of environmental commitment. By hosting a site with a “green” company, it’s a great way for businesses to show they care - we find many of our clients actively promoting the fact that their site is “powered by wind and sun”
Says Lupe
March 6, 2007 @ 381311:16 pm
I host with AISO for the last couple years and they have never been down once..their support is top notch and their reputation is more then most web hosting companies. They were featured in Inc. Magazines’ Top 50 Green Companies, and they host a IMAX billion dollar film production company, http://www.macfreefilms.com. I would suggest them to anyone looking for environmentally friendly web hosting. AISO is 100% solar powered, both their servers and data center are powered by onsite solar panels. And they also have a partnership with Co-Op America, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Green Building Council. Plus, they are doing more then just making sure their electricity is green. Their data center and office is green too by using environmentally friendly air conditioners, solar tubes to bring in natural light, a propane powered generator instead of diesel, VMWare virtualization to reduce their server electricity usage, 6 watt energy saving desktops computers for their employees, and soon to be LEED certified as a green data center, the only public one in North America, at least that I have found so far. So as far as the environmental concern, I think AISO is more concerned about the environment then ThinkHost or any other of its competitors will ever be.
Says Michael Bloch
March 13, 2007 @ 402410:31 pm
AISO have a great setup, that’s for sure - but I don’t think the integrity of a company, their people or their commitment to the environment should be just judged on their hardware (btw, I’m certainly not taking a stab at AISO, that’s some great gear they are running and I’m sincerely glad you’ve had a positive experience with them).
When you think about it, if the only companies that went “green” were the ones who could round up the funding for that sort of hardware, then the planet is doomed - it simply won’t happen quick enough :). Part of going green is making what we already have more environmentally friendly and building on it from there rather than just totally discarding it - that’s just wasteful and in many cases unviable.
Any company who makes inroads into more earth friendly operations should be encouraged rather than the old “my green is better than your green” game :). That just discourages businesses (and individuals) from making the effort.
Anyway, I’ll think more about this while I’m picking up other people’s trash in our local parklands today which I do on a voluntary basis regularly - which ThinkHost’s boss gives me the time to do. Nice of him huh?
Like I said, environmental commitment goes beyond the company’s hardware assets - there’s also the unseen efforts of the people who power it that are supported by the company :).
Says Jodi Reichenberger
April 5, 2007 @ 64999:18 am
I appreciate the beginning comments, sometimes trying to live a sustainable lifestyle makes one feel like a real extremist, but regardless, the pendelum has swung so far toward indulgence and resource abuse that the only way to make a difference in haste is to get all the way over on the other side and pull. LOL.
I value Michael’s comments greatly, “environmental commitment goes beyond the company’s hardware assets - there’s also the unseen efforts of the people who power it that are supported by the company.”
Having green hosting available only keeps the idea in the public’s eye, that we all have to do something. The many statistics cited above are good examples of what a kick in the pants industrious site owners can give. It’s another way to work together as well, toward making a difference.
If one site owner makes the move to green hosting, puts a link on their website, then sees it every day, don’t you think it keeps the thought in their mind.. I really SHOULD start recycling, I really WILL volunteer to pick up trash for the city (that was a good one!
I really AM going to take my bike to the grocery store, sitting behind this computer all day, I’m getting out of shape and HEY! I could save precious resources and not pollute in the process! It may seem a small thing, but I sold newspaper advertising and the best pulling ads for small business are not the great big half pages, but the one by one inch spot that is always there, week after week, month after month. We don’t get numb to things, we begin to accept it as something that has staying power. See what I mean? Green hosting is wise.
Says Jeremiah Owyang
May 15, 2007 @ 95676:08 pm
Hey Green friends, I’ve found out other ways to make a website green, aside from just webhosting and energy, check out this list:
I was also inspired to look into green webhosting and put together a list of ways to make any website green, from Web Hosting, Hardware, Storage, Servers, Recycling, and process!
http://tinyurl.com/yqs7vv
Feel free to leave a comment if you’ve some other suggestions.
Says proson
September 8, 2007 @ 186947:53 am
well, because global warming is heating up again. This year, we found the weather is hotter than last and every one is talking how the environment is changing, what are the crisis we are facing and so on and so on. When I was in Hong Kong, the topic was talked on radio every single day, I think these days “green” is a selling point. I’m thinking to include a statement on my why joining!
Says John MacKenzie
August 10, 2008 @ 401512:43 pm
What a great discussion going on! Aiso definitely has a great setup, and I agree with Michael that green hosts need to do more than just buy certificates to offset their usage, that is the easy part. Integrating a business plan to reduce our impact from all angles is where the hosts that are serious about being green are going. This Includes using 100% post-consumer fiber paper and promo materials, not using disposable cups and other common office supplies that just get thrown away, using public transit, etc…. Extending that philosophy to the everyday lives of employees and owners as well is the next logical step as well. I think all of these steps will help to increase the number of companies that care about social responsibility and not just being about making money. Corporate social responsibility is really the ultimate goal if you truly care about the environment and our communities and that means more than just offsetting our energy usage.
John MacKenzie
President
http://www.Ethicalhost.ca