If you're looking to set up a Web site and have been looking for a suitable Web hosting provider, there has recently emerged a new hosting component to consider along with cost, storage bandwidth and the other old measures.
You may have noticed the term "green Web hosting" appearing in your searches, an indicator of a trend among many hosting providers toward more environmentally accountable services.
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In order to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner, Web hosting providers have working to either reduce their energy usage or compensate for their energy consumption by purchasing carbon credits with renewable energy resource programs.
Green Web hosting in general has been gaining in popularity and seems likely to become more widespread. So if hosting your Web site with an environmentally conscious Web hosting provider appeals to you or fits well with your corporate culture, there are plenty of options available.
A common method Web hosting providers are using to go green is offsetting their carbon emissions by purchasing carbon credits so that enough "good" energy is produced to counteract the energy being consumed by the company's data center.
Oregon-based Web hosting provider ThinkHost (thinkhost.com) says its location prevented it from installing solar panels or constructing wind turbines to supply its energy. Instead, it purchases green energy certificates (99 percent wind and one percent solar) to offset its carbon emissions by funding renewable energy sources that produce clean energy for others on the grid, nevertheless making it a carbon neutral Web hosting provider. The company says it also encourages staff to telecommute, eliminating another contributor to global warming. ThinkHost offers hosting plans starting at $5.95 per month.
South Carolina-based HostedToday (hostedtoday.com) has chosen to combat greenhouse gas emissions through arboriculture, or tree care, by planting trees to offset carbon emissions produced by each customer hosting solution. Trees absorb carbon dioxide while they grow and trap it for years to come. On average, says HostedToday, over 30 years, one tree planted will absorb 230 kg of CO2. HostedToday's Web hosting plans start at $3.33 per month or $40 a year.
Another way in which Web hosting providers exercise their environmentally conscious attitude is reducing the amount of energy they consume by deploying energy-efficient hardware.
In addition to planting trees to offset its carbon emissions, the UK-based arm of Web hosting provider Rackspace Managed Hosting (rackspace.co.uk) has also changed its infrastructure by using HP ProLiant DL385 servers featuring dual-core AMD Opteron 200 series processors because they offer power and heat load advantages, along with running 20 percent more efficiently than the Intel-based Dell servers used previously.
There are Web hosting providers that skip over the carbon credit issue altogether and have implemented green solutions by using energy-efficient hardware in their infrastructure and powering their facilities with renewable energy produced on-site.
California-based AISO.Net (aiso.net) says its data center is completely solar powered through the use of 120 ground mounted solar panels and that its facility also uses solar tubes, which draw natural light from outside, to replace 300 watts worth of electric lamps for five hours a day, five days a week. In addition, the interior was built using steel studs and contains several layers of insulation, which gives the facility a high R-value and keeps the cool air in and the hot air out, significantly lowering the amount of energy needed to operate the data center. AISO.Net most recently announced it will be installing a green roof - three- to four-inch layers of dirt planted with brush type drought resistant plants - to improve energy efficiency. The company's Windows and Linux hosting plans start at $9.95 per month.
Oregon-based ecoSky (ecosky.com) contributes to a sustainable economy by purchasing renewable energy credits, but differentiates itself by actually generating renewable energy on-site through the use of solar photovoltaic panels mounted on the roof. EcoSky's personal hosting plans start at $19.95 per month and business hosting plans start at $29.95 per month.
And Washington-based VitalBodies (vitalbodies.com) says all its servers, offices and data center operate entirely on renewable solar energy and are powered by a solar array capable of generating up to 60 kW of electricity daily. In addition, its Solar Hosting Program uses solar-powered high-performance dual-processor SAN Web servers, ensuring that Web sites are running on a green-energy powered infrastructure. VitalBodies' hosting packages start at $9.95 per month and are fit to accommodate users from personal to business, on both Windows and Linux platforms.
Most of these companies say that going with a green hosting plan doesn't cost much more than a regularly-powered hosting plan, if at all, and the level of features and service are not compromised either.
