Plethora of Options for Green Web Hosting
by Mark Ontkush, Boston, Massachusetts, USA on 05. 7.07
The number of green web hosting options has expanded quite a bit in recent months. Which one should you choose? Well, right now it appears that the primary discriminator is the method by which they power their operation. One group buys Renewable Energy Certificates; these insure that the power they use is generated in an ecofriendly manner. This is typically wind or solar, but it could also be biogas or geothermal as well. Dreamhost is in this category. The second group actually generates their own power directly from renewable energy; AISO, for example, is in this category; they are 100 percent powered by solar that they generate themselves. Treehugger Mike lists a bunch more in this group.
A few offer other deal sweeteners such as carbon offsetting, discounts to non profits, letting their employees telecommute, etc. Some, such as Acorn and ecoSky tout only free software for their hosts. And Green web host combines a bunch of them; they will plant a tree on your behalf, have solar powered offices, and are also paperless. Finally, let's not forget about the money; prices for green hosting services vary widely.
So, which one? It's a simple answer - any one. Because any of these guys are better than any web hoster that hasn't announced a program. Select a price point and options, and make the switch. :: Treehugger
Switched to AISO late last year, happy user here.
Just a quick note that we have a Green Hosting option as well. We offset the CO2 by buying into CDM Gold Standard projects. So if you are looking for a high-quality hoster in Europe that talks you talk (both tech, but also environment friendly), come check us out at http://www.openminds.be/ or give us a call.
Just wanted to mention our company, ThinkHost; Inc:
http://www.thinkhost.com
- 100% renewable energy
- Tree planted on behalf of each client
- 10% of revenue value plowed back into community projects, many environmental
- We strongly support social change activism
- Free setup and first two months free, no strings attached
.. and the hosting is pretty good too.. thought I should mention that ;)
We're a progressive values based company, established in 1999 - "green" isn't just a marketing angle for us; it's a passion.
We look forward to welcoming more TreeHugger readers!
I really love Dreamhost! They only just recently got on the carbon offset bandwagon, but they seem like a really decent bunch of people, and, while not perfect, they seem to really care about their business and act like real human beings, rather than corporate puppets.
On the other hand, I had a terrible experience with Thinkhost, which I tried first, after I read about them on Treehugger. They lost more than a week's worth of my email, didn't apologize until I asked them to cancel my account, and then made me jump through hoops before they actually cancelled my account. And they are really misleading with the "powered by renewable energy" statements, when they are actually powered by the same non-renweable energy as the rest of us, but they buy credits to offset it. I mean, credits are fine, but be honest about it.
I'll second Dreamhost. The price is good with excellent services in return. The tech support is also very helpful. I had a tech offer to bump my account from my current server onto a server with less load without my asking. I accepted, of course, and it was totally transparent to me - I never had to do a thing different, everything just worked a little faster.
I recently saw in the newsletter that they send out that they have begun to purchase Gold Standard Renewable Energy Credits - very pleasing news.
I recommend AISO.Net(www.aiso.net), I have been with them for years, and they are the leaders in the green web hosting industry....they are going above and beyond with helping the environment instead of just having clean energy with their onsite solar panels powering their network(no REC's here). I give them five stars.
I also recommend (aiso.net), I have been with them for a few months since switching from another company you listed above I wont mention. AISO has been great with the uptime and the support, you can acutally speak to a person that knows what they are talking about when you call them. Before you decide with one, take a look at AISO first, then the others...you will see a difference.
Hi,
This is Emma over at Acorn Host. Thanks for the mention! We offer 50% non-profit discounts (have since we started 5 years ago) and our energy is offset with green tags (certificates) which are a mix of wind and solar. Thanks!
Emma McCreary
Owner, Acorn Host
www.acornhost.com
It's good to know thanks for information and tanks for other bloger posts.
I'm in the market for a green hosting solution, and ideally, it would be a multiple domain cpanel/fantastico type of arrangement. I contacted aiso.net, and they don't have that.
Frankly, I did want to say that carbon credits, while on the surface seemingly a good idea, actually look like a way to sell the rights for others to pollute on your behalf. It seems like a good deal for environmentalists, but a very bad deal for the environment.
Am I wrong?
Best,
Dainis
Dainis,
Interesting point, good question to raise. (And, no final answer)
(All opinion herein expressed are simply my own take on this)
Carbon credits, which you mention, do seem to be a way for 'over-polluting' companies to buy off 'right-to-pollute x amount' credits from companies that don't pollute as much. (This assumes you mean the term carbon credits which describes how companies engage in emissions trading, buying and selling of the 'right-to-pollute' a certain amount.)
This emissions trading is based on an assumption, not universally agreed, that there is a 'reasonable/expected/tolerable' amount of pollution that a company or geographic area can generate. Say 100 units. So the 150 unit polluter can buy 50 units from a 50 unit polluter. Total is 200, within the limit of 2x100.
But you are right that, if this model persists long term, it simply allows overpolluters to pay for more pollution, rather than to clean up their own act.
The base assumption of an agreed and tolerable level of pollution that all are allowed is questionable. It assumes that we have plenty of time to get to clean state. Perhaps OK as a first baby step, but definitely not as a long term policy (IMO).
On the other hand, Carbon Offsets, if spent by a polluting company, or user of polluting technology, would be used to buy some kind of green remediation (trees planted, water cleaned, etc). Which seems like a good thing all around. Though again, it should be a medium term policy until the organization can shift to low or non-polluting suppliers.
So I am all for us supporting green companies when possible, then leaning-green carbon offsetting companies, then buyers of the carbon credit exchange system, and only last resort plain old dirty polluters... Thus it is a good thing for companies to identify what their energy use policy is.
Green web hosting is really great! I advise it to everyone. Thanks for sharing your experience, I've already worked with it.
Green ISP and sister company GreenWebhost, www.greenisp.net and www.greenwebhost.net have been atthe forefront of such thinking since 2003, and demonstrate passion about the issues involved here, the founder Paul Palmer has been a Green Campaigner for 15 years.
They are the business.
Thanks.
Our host, Dreamscape Multimedia, has been working really well for us and they do the whole "green" thing. They offer cPanel / Fantastico packages and we've seen smooth sailing so far. As a very small web design company, hosting stability is huge for us. So is getting paid, and they have a pretty aggressive referral program where you earn 50 percent on any web hosting customers you place with them. For us, we enjoy getting that check every month and it's fun to watch the amount creep up higher and higher as we expand our customer list. ;o)
I looked around at all the hosting company and they are all the same...they don't do any reducing in terms of the energy they use, except for one company, AISO.Net. They are the only ones trying to reduce their carbon footprint within their data center and they are the only ones out of them all that are 100% solar powered using on-site energy production. Everyone else just buys energy credits...so theres no real way to tell if im even helping the environment by going to one of the "Green Carbon Offset" hosting companies. I would rather shop around first and go with a company that is trying to reduce the pollution instead of just paying its way around reducing.
Want to mention my host, DrakNet - http://www.drak.net . They also offset completely, and have a non-profit program that gives the lowest level account free to any non-profit that asks, and has a program where non-profits that need larger sites can apply for an even larger discount all the way up to free.
We switched to AISO.net after reading about them in Business 2.0 but I'm sad to say that they haven't been tops. There's no cPanel support for Linux and we have had outages during important client meetings. Also, our clients also complain about the speed of the servers, somthing that an advertising agency can't have.
One shining thing is their tech support is AWESOME! I wish they all were like AISO.
If it's a personal site, then they are great. And try them out.
Might I suggest Green Dog Hosting.
We are BIG on GREEN! We decided to do more than our part and we give away 25% of our profits to green organizations. Right now we have chosen to support: The Nature Conservatory, Surfrider Foundation, Rock n Renew, Greenpeace, and the WWF. We are just trying to do a small part in the industry.
I'm looking for a green webhost that don't have their data centre in the U.S. (but still do business in English).
Any ideas?