Green Web Hosting 101: The Basics of Internet Technology for a Greener Earth

Going green is not limited to reusing, recycling, and reducing our use of tangible harm-causing human practices and man-made objects and facilities. With the birth of the Information Age comes the transition of all things into the realm of the Internet. Today, more and more web hosting companies are taking the initiative to observe environment-friendly methods and procedures to help in the move for a greener, livelier Earth.

What exactly is green web hosting?

Green web hosting is a practice of web hosting companies to minimize, if not eliminate, the total harmful costs of putting up a website has on the environment. Green web hosting companies have several different methods of cutting down their energy consumption, curtailing their carbon emissions, and generally reduce the use of materials that are made from finite natural resources, such as wood and paper. However, companies who have switched to green web hosting have only one goal in mind, that is, to lessen the harmful effects the Internet has on the environment.

Is there a need for green web hosting?

Web hosting, while it may sound like a non-invasive affair altogether, actually uses up three to four percent of all the energy produced in the entire world. In one year, one data center alone can consume as much electricity as the amount consumed by six million homes. This amount of energy consumption by web hosting is expected to double by 2011, and if web hosting companies do not do anything about this, the Earth may just be more steps much closer to the depletion of its natural resources. Our resources, as we should all be aware of by now, can only do so much to provide for us. These resources are not infinite and sooner or later (we can only hope later!), these resources will run out.

How do companies practice green web hosting?

As there are millions of ways to be creative, there are also a variety of methods web hosting companies employ to ease up their energy consumption. Many companies turn to purchasing renewable energy and carbon credits to offset their use of carbon. A renewable energy credit allows any company to source its energy from producers of renewable energy, such as solar panels, wind farms, or geothermal projects. Companies who use carbon credits still obtain their energy from conventional, non-renewable sources. However, their purchase of credits allows them to offset the damage web hosting has done to the environment by funding projects aiming for the reduction of carbon emissions, such as massive tree-planting.

Many web hosts also opt for shared hosting, where multiple customers share server resources to cut down the energy costs of using a separate server for each customer. Others use separate servers placed inside a single box that has one energy source. Moreover, there are now energy-efficient web servers with an energy consumption of less than half of the regular servers. Others use a server technology known as speed stepping. This cuts down the voltage levels used by the server during peak hours.

There are a countless number of ways that web hosting companies can reduce their energy consumption. Many companies aggressively push for a paperless office, using e-documents and e-mail communication instead. They also offer incentives for employees who carpool or telecommute to reduce the number of carbon-producing cars on the road.