What is Green Hosting?

October 13th, 2010

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DreamHost Green Hosting

With so many companies out their saying they are green and listing the many different ways they adhere to that statement, I would like to start by breaking down “green”. Green is more than just a color; it has become a well known word used to describe eco-friendly businesses, products, people, and has become a symbol of environmentalism (we all know the political party by that name as well). Then there is that “carbon footprint” phrase being thrown around. So what IS a carbon footprint? Well, Wikipedia describes a carbon footprint as “the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused by an organization, event or product”. For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent of other GHGs, emitted.”

So, we covered green, and the footprint, but what about a green business? According to Green America Today (http://www.greenamericatoday.org/) “Green businesses operate in ways that solve, rather than cause, both environmental and social problems. These businesses adopt principles, policies, and practices that improve the quality of life for their customers, their employees, communities, and the environment.”

What about green hosting? Thats what I really want to know!! Are they just green businesses? Well kind of, yes, but there is a bit more to it than that. More and more web hosting companies are finding ways to offset their carbon footprint, create their own energy, plant trees for new sign-ups, eliminate paper in the offices, switch to biodegradable cups and mugs, aluminum water bottles for the employees, offer incentives for carpooling, and more.

1 and 1 Green Hosting

There are a few ways that Green Hosting companies provide green hosting solutions to the customer. The first is with “eco-friendly” hosting, which makes up the majority of green hosting companies out there. Eco-friendly means that the particular web host purchases Renewable Energy Certificates or carbon credits which offsets their carbon footprint. Others, use things like solar or wind power to directly generate their own power. Most hosting companies, no matter which method they choose to power their servers, are using multiple methods to help the environment.

Being a green host, rather then a non-green hosting company, doesn’t necessarily make one host better than another. You should still weigh everything that is important to you and your business, such as what applications they support, the uptime, the price, whether they are eco-friendly or not, and more, before you make your decision. Green hosting, is however, a great way to add that little extra bit of help to the environment.