The Ultimate Guide To Green Web Hosting

The Ultimate Guide To Green Web Hosting

The internet is a place where people exchange information. Each day, search engines handle trillions of Terabytes of data, and the number keeps increasing each day. The sharing of information is facilitated by servers. Simply put, servers hold all the information shared online. A collection of these servers form a data center, which is the life of the internet.

The internet is expanding each day, and as that happens, more servers are needed to keep the internet running. This indicates that more electricity is needed to keep the servers operational. In the recent past, servers have been made more energy efficient, but the energy consumption is still rising rapidly. As of 2008, data centers consumed electrical energy equivalent to all the car manufacturers in the country. Note that, the automakers produced 10 million cars that year. According to studies, powering data centers will produce as much carbon emissions as the airline industry by 2020.

To ensure that the internet stays on without destroying the environment that feeds and houses us, green web hosting has come in. This is a simple way for people who are concerned with the environment to host their websites. By hosting their websites the greenway, webmasters will encourage the expansion of renewable energy and more green projects.

What Makes Up Green Web Hosting?

Web hosting companies are employing different methods to offer green services to their clients. One of the most common methods is the use of renewable energy such as solar and wind power. This ensures that there is no carbon produced during the power generation process, and during use in the data centers and hosting company offices.

The companies can generate green energy on-site or source for it from power generating companies that use wind turbines or solar panels. The companies can also purchase Renewable Energy Certificates, RECs, also called green tags. Web hosts will buy RECs from renewable energy producers. 1 REC is credited for every 1 MWh produced by these companies.

RECs should not be confused with carbon credits. While RECs ensure there is no carbon emitted completely, carbon credits offset the damage that results from the emission of carbon by investing in green initiative projects such as carbon sequestration projects.

Green web hosting companies employ energy efficient servers besides using green energy. Their green initiatives are also used in different office practices including the use of natural lighting, use of energy efficient electronics, green cleaning and much more.

Every once in a while, a green web hosting service will engage in green initiatives in the community, such as planting trees or donating towards environmental conservation drives.

Top Five Green Web Hosting Companies

1. EcoWebHosting.co.uk

The UK-based hosting companies that been aiming at reducing their carbon emissions to zero. The company calculates its carbon emissions and plants trees to offset the emissions. So far, the business has planted more than 100 trees at the Ransom Wood Business Park.

They have a variety of hosting plans to accommodate starting webmasters and those with huge businesses such as e-commerce sites. They also offer reseller plans. Basic packages cost as low as $10, with one free domain, 100MB bandwidth, and 100MB disk space. They offer great customer support, and their hosting plans are ad-free.

2. PowWeb

This is a simple web hosting plan that offers a single package at one price for all your needs. They offer free unlimited domains, unrestricted disk space and bandwidth and much more great features for only $4.48 paid monthly.

The company runs its data centers and offices on wind energy alone. They buy RECs from Community Energy. By doing so, the company prevents the release of 2660 metric tons of carbon.

3. Netfirms

This is a green web hosting service that has employed a number of strategies to cut carbon emissions. To start with, the business discarded Alternating Current, and now uses Direct Current, which is more efficient. This allowed them to cut energy consumption by 25 percent.

Their offices are BOMA BESt certified and stand as Certified Go Green Building thanks to the different green practices they have adopted. The offices are located conveniently near a subway stop allowing employees to use public transportation to and from work.

They offer the basic hosting plan at $4.45 per month with 500GB bandwidth, one free domain, 1 MySQL database and 10GB Disk space. This is made better by 24/7 customer support.

4. Acorn Host

Acorn Host was started to be a socially and environmentally conscious web host. The business offers budget web hosting for non-profit businesses. Their data centers and their offices run on 100 percent green energy. They purchase RECs from 3Degrees.

The business uses energy efficient servers and has adopted green practices in their offices such as using electronic invoices and use of recycled paper. It also encourages its employees to telecommute. Their standard hosting plan for $7.95 a month with 2GB disk space, unlimited MySQL, 50GB Bandwidth. For non-profit plans, the packages start at $3.95.

5. Pair Networks

Pair Networks adopted an eco-friendly culture in all their corporate practices. The business has partnered with Renewable Choice Energy to offset all the carbon they produce from their office and data centers. They capture and destroy methane besides carbon. Pair Networks’ employees have Terrapasses which help them offset emissions by funding wind energy production.

The company has made great strides in their conservation of energy and resources. They recycle paper and other recyclable items, use energy efficient lighting and LCD monitors and have adopted green cleaning. The business has also installed air purifying plants in different locations in the buildings and uses denim insulation, uses Volatile Organic Compound, VOC, free paint and cork flooring. They use sustainable building materials, and all their office practices are geared towards staying green at all times.

On their cafeteria, employees can buy certified organic fruits. They offer free memberships in their local Audubon Society to their employees. Their hosting plans start from $9.95 a month with unlimited domains, 40GB bandwidth, 500MB disk space and 24/7 support.