In September, a user identified as Michael suggested Host Gator create an icon hosting clients could place on their sites to signify the green status. Host Gator ran with it, creating small images with slogans like "This site is green" and "Powered by Texas wind." This quickly caused resellers to ask for non-branded-specific green labeling, which the company has plans to release shortly.

These user suggestions came following the late August announcement when Matthew Collins, president and chief executive officer of carbon consulting firm Integrated Ecosystem Market Services (www.iemarketservices.com), unveiled Host Gator's plan to completely offset its carbon emissions locally. Chicago-based Integrated Ecosystem Market Services worked with HostGator to develop a renewable energy credit program, whereby the company pays for the environmental benefits of creating 1 megawatt hour of renewable energy.

"The IT sector has a huge climate impact," Collins stated in a blog post announcement. "At present, between three and four percent of all electricity (and the associated carbon emissions) used in the world goes to running data centers."

It has purchased RECs to account for 130 percent of its electricity used to power and cool its shared and reseller servers. Also, all of Houston-based HostGator's RECs support wind power generated in Texas. Collins noted that even hosts that buy RECs are generally sourcing them from wherever is they are cheapest.

The purchase of RECs, however, is only the company's latest step toward sustainability, Collins said. Previously, HostGator had already reduced its environmental impact at the office by recycling and minimizing paper use, and also recently switching to higher efficiency servers.

A user responding to the post who identified themselves as a consultant using the handle "Galiel" posted in late September that their work with socially responsible nonprofits, public sector agencies and virtuous for-profit organizations looking to adopt new media technologies has often led to Host Gator.

"As someone who has used you folks for dozens of my consulting clients and for my own sites, for many years - dating back to your earliest days - this is very exciting," Galeil wrote. "I spent a lot of time researching green hosting services, and still ended up using you folks, even for environmental organizations, because the cost-benefit analysis just didn't justify switching...Thank you for taking the time to actually do this right, and not take the quite and lazy way of just buying credits without changing any of your actual practices."