If you own a website, there are oodles of green web hosting companies to choose from. But which one to pick? And why?
I chose a company that has been providing eco-friendly website hosting since 2008.
Why? An established business, for one thing. Not a crowd who recently jumped on the green web hosting bandwagon. But also because they put back into the grid 3x as much power as they use.
How? Through wind energy.
As an 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?
A web hosting server produces 1,390 pounds (630 kg) of CO2 per year.
[source]Last year, Google used as much power as the entire city of San Francisco.
[source]The Department of Energy says that data centers use 10 percent of the federal government’s total electricity consumption.
[source]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]
On the other hand, a 100% green web host produces no carbon dioxide (CO2).
Nil.
Zero.
None.
SO HOW DO GREEN COMPANIES DO IT?
Let’s look at the different ways to go green.
Green hosting options include:
– 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, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook are all going green in a big way. It’s a welcome trend.
The green web host that I chose is GreenGeeks.com and that's my affiliate link, in case that matters to you. Go directly to the site if you'd prefer.
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Health disclosure: I'm not a medical expert which is why I provide links to source material. My goal is to share information to enhance the health of our readers (that's you -- and your loved ones).
