Green Versus Simply Eco-Friendly
The Difference Between Eco-friendly and true Green Hosting.
Nov 11, 2009
Go to Google and type in "green web hosting" and the results will show dozens upon dozens of web hosting companies proclaiming to be "100% green", "300% eco-friendly" and the like. The reality is that only a fraction of these web hosting companies are actually using green energy sources to run their facilities and data centers while the rest are purchasing carbon offset credits or green tags.
Carbon Offsetting and Green Tags
Carbon offset credits can be purchased by web hosting companies in or exceeding the amount of greenhouse emissions they produce. These credits are used toward financing ways to create clean, renewable energy. Many web hosting companies going this route will often purchase two to three times the amount they would produce - hence the "300% eco-friendly" proclamation.
Green tags, also known as Renewable Energy Certificates, are (according to Wikipedia) "non-tangible energy commodities in the United States that represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour (MWh) of electricity was generated from an eligible renewable energy resource". These simply show that a company or business has purchased a specific amount of green energy, not that this energy has actually been implemented and used within their data centers or offices.
Carbon offset credits and green tags are good ways to give back to the environment but they are misleading when it comes to web hosting self-proclamations. Simply because a web hosting company has purchased either the tags or the credits, they are allowed to then state they are "green" or "eco-friendly". The surfing public is slightly mislead.
True Green Hosting
On the other end of the spectrum and very few in numbers are those web hosting companies that truly use green energy resources to power their offices, server, data centers and more. The most common form of green energy with respect to hosting data centers is solar energy. Web hosting companies that own, maintain, and utilize solar paneling that in turn supplies energy to their offices and servers are difficult to find but are out there.
AISO.Net is one such company that takes this one step further. Through solar tubing placement, the company manages to use the light of the sun during office hours rather than any electrical lighting system. The company also collects and filters rainwater for use in its air conditioning system as well as its data center cooling system.
And AISO.Net is the only company one will find actually using green energy - Solar Energy Host and Gray Matter Host also use solar power to energize their facilities.
Finding Actual Green Hosts
To locate these types of green web hosting companies the searching thought process needs to change. Instead of seaching for "green web host", one will need to be more specific by typing in "solar powered host". This effectively narrows down the field and makes finding a true green hosting company a lot easier.
The simple fact is using either type of web hosting company does, in one way or another, help with creating less of an ecologically damaging mark on our planet. However, buying one's way into the eco-friendly set is very different than actually reducing one's carbon footprint.
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