Green Web Hosting


If you own a website, there are oodles of green web hosting companies to choose from. But which one to pick? And why?

When I launched GreenTechWriter.com, I chose GreenGeeks.com who have been providing eco-friendly website hosting since 2008.

Why them? Because they put back into the grid 3x as much power as they use.

How? Through wind energy.

As a recognized EPA Green Power Partner, they work with environmental foundations to purchase wind energy credits to put back into the grid 3x the amount of energy they consume.

In effect, they not only wipe out their own carbon footprint, they wipe out the carbon footprint of two more same-sized companies. Plus the company uses energy-efficient hardware, housed in environmentally friendly data centers.

BUT DOES IT MATTER? DO COMPUTERS BURN THAT MUCH POWER?

1. A web hosting server produces 1,390 pounds (630 kg) of CO2 per year. [source: greengeeks.com ]
2. Last year, Google used as much power as the entire city of San Francisco. [source: nytimes.com]
3. The Department of Energy says that data centers use 10 percent of the federal government's total electricity consumption [source: energy.gov]
4. If the power used by the web hosting industry keeps going up at the current rate, they will be polluting the planet more than the airline industry by the year 2020.[source: wikipedia.org, Green Hosting]

On the other hand, a 100% green web host producesnocarbon dioxide (CO2).

Nil.
Zero.
None.

So how do green companies do it?

Let's look at the different ways to go green.

Green hosting includes:
– directly using energy generated by wind, water, or solar collectors
– buying carbon offset credits (green certificates) to offset their consumption of conventional energy – directly powering the data center computers with renewable energy
– planting trees, grass and other greenery in and around the buildings
– energy conservation policies
– use of fresh cool air rather than electrically cooled air
– other energy-saving policies and appliances.

Going green is not only important for the planet, as all of us here know, it's also good for business these days.

Google recently announced it's going to be even more green. Here's one of many headlines that caught my eye. "Google Says It Will Run Entirely on Renewable Energy in 2017". That's the NY Times.

Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook are also going green in a big way. It's a welcome trend.



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