What to Look for in a Green Hosting Company

By Jim Talbot | January 22, 2009

Because people care more about nature and environment nowadays, there is an increase in “green” products, as well as green hosting options. But which one is better for you? What does a green hosting company do? What should you look for while choosing a green hosting option? I’ll discuss these questions with you with this short article.

The first and the most obvious problem with normal hosting companies are, they use lots of electricity. And since a good amount of the “normal” electricity power used is generated using fossil fuels, that energy use contributes to many problems ranging from Global Warming to environmental pollution due to mining and extraction, dependency on foreign oil and even having to fight wars for oil. Therefore, the first thing a “green” hosting company does is to power their servers, coolers, offices etc using “green electricity”. Green electricity is generated using renewable resources, mostly using wind turbines and solar panels. Sometimes biomass, biogas, or geothermal methods can also be used to generate “green electricity”. All of your green hosting options should at least include a way to use renewable energy.

Many green hosting options use what is called “Renewable Energy Certificates”, or REC’s. Renewable Energy companies sell the electricity to the national power grid. Because once electricity enters the grid, you cannot distinguish which electron comes from which source, Renewable Energy Companies also generate and sell “Renewable Energy Certificates” for each megawatt-hour of electricity they sell to the grid. Therefore, when a green hosting option buys electricity from the grid, and REC’s enough to cover its own electricity use, they can rightfully claim to use green electricity without the need for another power grid exclusively for green electricity, or generating their own electricity.

Some other green hosting options you can see utilize a more direct approach, by generating their own electricity, usually using wind turbines and solar panels. This makes more financial sense in the long run for the web hosting company. Depending on solar and wind potential of the location, solar panels and wind turbines can pay for themselves with the electricity they generate in 4-5 years. However they have an economic life of 25+ years. Therefore, in its life cycle, a renewable electricity generation system will reduce electricity costs by 75-80%. If a company can pay the upfront costs involved, that’s better. Of course, for your choice of green hosting options, it does not matter if the hosting company busy recs or generate their own electricity. But it matters that they use green electricity.

Most green hosting options don’t stop with powering their servers and coolers with green electricity. Some get more green energy credits than the electricity they use. This way they are reducing the impact they have made in the past by using electricity from non renewable resources. Some also power their offices with green electricity. Some promote telecommuting to save energy used on cars and transportation.

Also, using green electricity is not the only way a green hosting option can improve the environmental conditions. Many of the green hosting companies will also provide hosting for nonprofit organizations like environmental associations or peace initiatives. By donating some of their server resources to these kind of worthy causes, they support the care of nature and environment that we live in.

Some other green hosting options include planting a tree on your behalf. A tree has many benefits to the environment, and is popular among nature lovers. There are also many non profit organizations who will plant a tree for a very low cost, so it makes sense for the green hosting company too. Some green hosting options also state that, a percentage of the money you pay is going to GreenPeace (or any other organization they support). Some green hosting companies also actively promote environmental campaigns to all active webmasters, to increase online awareness and support them.

With that kind of green hosting options available to you, you can easily find a green hosting option tailor fit to your own needs. Just don’t also forget that you’re still getting hosting service, and in addition to being a green hosting option, your choice should also satisfy your requirements like price, %99.9 guaranteed uptime, bandwidth and disk space, customer support etc.

Jim Talbot is an internet marketing expert. The following is Jim’s suggestion for the Best Green Hosting Option available today. You can also visit Jim’s site, Best Internet Host. Sign up today, you will not regret it!

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