Hi I need to know about Green hosting so please let me know about it with some examples for clarification. Thanks

Datacenters consume a lot of energy keeping all those servers on and online. Energy is not only consumed by servers but also in HVAC to keep electronics cool, backup energy sources such as batteries and generators, lighting, etc. That's why many providers are going "Green hosting", meaning that they use methods and technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, such as wind generators, cloud hosting to reduce server idle resources, solar panels, etc. That is green hosting.

Hope it is clear.

What is green hosting?

A gimmick.

Some hosting companies claim to power their datacenters using wind. FatCow is an example. Their homepage says "Powered by 100% Wind Energy". They also have graphics of windmills at the bottom of the page. Though, I don't see any mention of the word "green". Even if they're telling the truth, that word seems gimmicky to me.

Thanks for your replies. I have also found related info on wikipedia and sharing here as well for others: Green or Eco-friendly website hosting is a recent addition to the field of website hosting which involves a given website hosting company attempting to prove that they are not having any negative impact on the environment in an attempt to attract consumers.

Very nice information provided , thanks for sharing it

The two best examples I know of are:

1. a DC in the UK owned by a water & sewage utility, which generates much of it's own power from sewage sludge biomass (methane coming from the sludge used to power turbines to create electricity)

2. Us! All the power on the main Icelandic power grid comes from hydro or geo-thermal sources, so any DC in Iceland has zero carbon emissions from their power sources.

I'm sure someone will tell me if I am wrong, but I believe that all the 'wind-powered' DCs are simply buying so-called green electricity - there are plenty of debates elsewhere regarding the real effectiveness of this.

One datacenter near me has their server racks placed in such a way that the heat can be collected from them and then forced back through the HVAC system to heat the rest of the building. I guess that would be a good example of "green" hosting.

Green hosting is enviromentally friendly hosting, when datacentres use eco friendly ways to produce their services. They probably use wind turbines to get their energy.

A gimmick.

I think i have to agree with you that It's a gimmick.


The Slightest is Still JUMBO :cool:

Has anyone tried Green hosting from glowhost.com?

It's Datacentres & or hosts who use these DCs that are powered by renewable energy sources.

It doesn't matter whether your buying the power from a energy supplier that produces energy from a renewable source or you do DIY with a windmill on your DC roof with backup from a green electricity supplier - it's all about reducing your energy from non-renewable sources.

It's not a gimmick it's a genuine pro-active & concerted effort at reducing & or eliminating your reliance on non-renewable sources.

Better than doing nothing & promotes innovation IMHO :)

The amount of energy and 'pollution' data centers generate is microscopic compared to other things. It is indeed a gimmick in attempt to follow a 'positive, go green' trend.

Well it comes down the word green i guess. Little physics lesson for you all.

Energy is never created nor destroyed. Simply transfered. If you can make use of all that energy in various different forms of its state. (From Wind/Hydro > Create electrictiy to power servers > servers create heat which is then used to heat the rest of the building) That is a good way to describe green. Its original input is renewable engery (no carbon emmissions) and its off product from the servers is still used to heat the building.

The amount of energy and 'pollution' data centers generate is microscopic compared to other things. It is indeed a gimmick in attempt to follow a 'positive, go green' trend.

Say that when you have no infinite non-renewable resources left to use ;)

Oh but, wait it's happening right now, in our lifetime ... don't worry about the future cause we won't be here to see it happen :rofl:

Humans & their foolish blind ways never ceases to amaze me :D

DCs are indeed minute in comparison but, 2 sayings:
Look after the pennies & the pounds will look after themselves :)
Think local, act global :)

At the end of the day. We can have all this big campaign about green this and green that. Unless people come up with initive ways to continue doing what they are doing now, but green then people will not do it. Take the car. You have all these companies saying electric cars are the future. Your joking right. Actually think about it practicality. You need to recharge every 200 or so miles. Which i guess is alright. (Like any normal car). However.... wait! it takes about 6-8 hours to fully charge. People are not going to do that. They say the technology will be here shortly fully recharge things within 5-10minutes.... its not here yet. Infact when it hasn't even been figured scientifically. So when it is, it will be at least 2/3 years before it hits the market.

Not to mention the average family these days does not have the financial luxury to have 2 cars. One for trips and the other around the city.

I personally favor the hydrogen car. Only emission is water and it takes the same amount of time to topup as a normal gas car.

The truth is we have got use to all this technology and people do not want to let it go. A good example of this is when i went Peru a few months ago into the amazon. I met people who have never seen a mobile phone before... let alone an iphone. Our company did some work out there and we were shocked how happy were without technology. When we had no signal one of my colleagues was almost acting like a little girl because he couldn't go online.

Sorry to hijack. But i think we need to work on a good balance.

The amount of energy and 'pollution' data centers generate is microscopic compared to other things. It is indeed a gimmick in attempt to follow a 'positive, go green' trend.

Sadly not actually true. Around 20% of a typical large business's CO2 output comes from IT. The global IT industry generates about the same amount of CO2 as the airline industry (and growing much faster). US data centres produce more CO2 than the entire country of Argentina, etc etc etc.

The IT industry also generates a lot of environmental benefits (not driving to the bank to check your balance, as one small example) but it's impacts are far from microscopic.

The amount of energy and 'pollution' data centers generate is microscopic compared to other things. It is indeed a gimmick in attempt to follow a 'positive, go green' trend.

Here is a link I found on CO2 emissions comming from DC
http://www.thewhir.com/blogs/Brian_Fry

It contains a few other links to studies made that claim CO2 emissions of DC are equivalent to CO2 emissions from aviation industry.

Just thought you may be interested.

One datacenter near me has their server racks placed in such a way that the heat can be collected from them and then forced back through the HVAC system to heat the rest of the building. I guess that would be a good example of "green" hosting.
My employer was doing that 20 years ago. The power in our building is just normal power. Because the DC heats the building, our heating bill is lower, but I wouldn't say it was done with any "green" morives.

Datacenters consume a lot of energy keeping all those servers on and online. Energy is not only consumed by servers but also in HVAC to keep electronics cool, backup energy sources such as batteries and generators, lighting, etc. That's why many providers are going "Green hosting", meaning that they use methods and technologies to reduce CO2 emissions, such as wind generators, cloud hosting to reduce server idle resources, solar panels, etc. That is green hosting.

Hope it is clear.

For me is clear now. Thanks for sharing I was looking to explain for sometime what green hosting means.

A very useful information indeed.

There is a recent rise in the popularity of Green Web Hosting because of the concern for the nature. Many industries have taken action and play their part in helping by reducing energy consumption and recycling. The same goes for the web hosting industry.

Firstly, let get a better idea about green web hosting. This type of hosting is a kind that uses nature-friendly power source for their daily activities. As we all know, servers are like appliances that requires electricity. The servers are on 24 hours a day and therefore, it consumes a lot of energy. So, green web hosting companies put their efforts in using only renewable energy sources.

Not all companies have the resources to generate their own renewable energy. Therefore, those companies can turn to supplied energy by choosing to buy Renewable Energy Certificates. By doing this, they can get energy generated by wind, solar or even biogas. Companies that generate their own energy also use energy generated by either solar power, wind turbines or other methods. This gives them ability to power their machines with this renewable energy.
So, what does this entire means? It means that web hosting companies are saving the planet by reducing carbon emission. It also allows companies to purchase offsets enabling them to mitigate their own greenhouse emissions. So, this can ease the hosting company from starting their own wind farm or solar power generator.

Another added value that the green web hosting has is their special offers on packages to non-profit organizations. It is their act to not only encourages organizations to use web hosting but also encouraging the use of renewable energy and paperless working environment. Some web host with green hosting also provide web host services to companies that have telecommuting being used by their staff and workers.

However, does green hosting cost more? Well, this is a question that we all need to think deep about. Green we hosting companies may run at a higher daily operation cost compared to other web host provider companies but the idea of having a paperless company using renewable energy is something that is encouraging. With a single company operating in this way, it can reduce a whole lot of waste and reduce a lot on energy consumption which will directly help in preserving the nature. So, saving the earth does come with a price and it is not a big one to pay if you're supporting a green web hosting company. Not only do you play your part in saving nature, you also get you web hosting needs.

if you buy a hosting package from a hosting company which follow green standards like using wind power, upgrading hardware, automate systems etc. is called green hosting.

The data centers use servers which are powered by direct current instead of alternating current "may have that backwards" and they support public transportation for employees and recyclicng. Actually it could mean a lot of different things!

The data centers use servers which are powered by direct current instead of alternating current

Did you really just say that? Here is a test for you. Open the hood to your car, and grab the Positive and Negative leads.. Did that hurt? Thats "direct current" or D/C. Now stick a knife in the socket on the wall. Did that hurt? That's "Alternating Current" or A/C. D/C is merely current flows in one direction only. A/C means it flows in both direction.

What's the moral of the story? Your post made no sense. "green" has nothing to do with A/C or D/C.
Green Hosting isn't really a sham itself, but the industry of renewable energy is. It has nothing to do with saving anything. Its about money. Have you ever driven past a wind farm, and seen 1/2 or more of the turbines not turning? Wonder why that is. Because they ONLY generate the power that is purchased first.... If it was about saving the world, they would try to load the grid with their "renewable" energy and drive out CO2 emitting power plants out. They are not, and so they are a scam. Also, have you seen anything from environmentalist now going after wind farms? Yeah, killing and displacing wildlife. lol. SO which is it? Saving the planet or killing humans?

Green web hosting is great for obvious reasons - with the backing of a respectable green web host, you can feel good about your role in saving the earth, since green web hosts use alternative / renewable energy, plant trees, recycling waste and purchase RECs to power their datacenters.

When a host helps the earth. :)

Green or Eco-friendly website hosting is a recent addition to the field of website hosting which involves a given website hosting company attempting to prove that they are not having any negative impact on the environment in an attempt to attract consumers.

Green or Eco-friendly website hosting is a recent addition to the field of website hosting which involves a given website hosting company attempting to prove that they are not having any negative impact on the environment in an attempt to attract consumers.

What's the moral of the story? Your post made no sense. "green" has nothing to do with A/C or D/C.

I beg to differ. Compare two racks - one running AC and one running DC. If all the servers mounted in each rack are running at 70% - which one do you think is consuming more power from the grid? Additionally, which one is generating more heat? I know of one large managed hosting company that's switching all it's racks and servers to DC power to mitigate power consumption and heat. While the outlays are more expensive to start with, the costs saved benefit both the business and in turn, the environment.

There is something else here though - most people are referring to the datacenter in reference to 'Green Hosting'. A large portion of that is correct however the OP did say "Green Hosting" and not "Green Datacenter".

For example, my company use only low emission vehicles in the fleet. All of our paper is recycled (what little we use). Our office equipment is largely based on recycled materials (even some of the chairs!) and we actively recycle all of our waste into a plethora of coloured bins which are collected weekly. Our old IT equipment is taken away to be recycled or donated to charities that send it out to third world countries.

While a lot of people claim 'Green' to be a gimmick, we take the opinion that every little helps.. and if it's something we can do within the scope of our businesses then we should be making every effort to do it. 'Green' is more than just what energy supplier you use. If you really think hard about it, there's a lost more you can be doing to reduce your 'carbon footprint' (hate that phrase) than just changing your energy supplier!

I would think the only substantive metric would be if the grid powering the DC is using a renewable energy source (i.e. solar, wind, etc...).

There are probably hosting companies that are quite green by this definition and don't even know it.

Conversely, there could be others that are fed from a coal-burning plant but call themselves green because they toss their beer cans in a recycling bin at the end of their shifts.

While it may be better that a DC uses as little power as possible, if the source they are using a renewable one, I don't see why this would be so important.

I think too many companies that purchase carbon offsets think that is truly green hosting when in fact it's just a way of being able to claim you're green when you are just as bad as the factory polluting the sky because of illegal emissions. Buying a hybrid car is going green, buying a v8 gas guzzler and then buying a couple carbon offsets, not green.

A gimmick.

Yup! +1 here

Green hosting is when servers are run eco friendly aint it? Like by solar panels or wind turbines.

Other ways involve the methods used for cooling the datacenter in a way that reduces energy consumption. A/C units use HUGE amounts of power when the compressors kick in and anything that can be done to reduce the use of those compressors in the cooling of the datacenter could be considered green IMHO

I think, that idea is nice. But to give green Hosting services for customers are quite difficult, because prices will be higher. I think it's good, but I'm not sure, that I would like pay more... :)

Green hosting is a marketing Gimmick to pull potential customers . you never know in future there might even be Cool servers hosting servers which are based underground lol

It can be a gimmick if the host does not follow environmentally friendly practices. But if a) data center is indeed powered or cooled with renewable energy and b) if the host offsets their electricity usage with wind or solar power investments, then it is no gimmick.

Indeed it is a advantage to use green power for your datacenter, one of the reasons is environmental friendly usage, the other advantage is that it is cheaper than standard power supplies. Every solution has advantages and disadvantages.

Green or Eco-friendly website hosting is a modern new invention to the website hosting service provider which includes a Pre existing website hosting company make a attempt to prove that they are not doing any negative work and it does not impact bad on the environment to attract the end users and force them to take a measurable action.


<<signatures to be set up in your profile>>

Reduce carbon dioxide emissions

The only point in "Green hosting" is marketing trick to get more sales, no real impact on nature from my point of view.

Yup! +1 here

It's not a Gimmick, Just terminology at it's best.

Some hosting companies claim to power their datacenters using wind. FatCow is an example.They also have graphics of windmills at the bottom of the page. Though, I don't see any mention of the word "green". Even if they're telling the truth, that word seems gimmicky to me.

When you see hosts advertising green hosting. They're probably just using that to lure you in.

I personally don't care whether there using power from a coal power plant or wind generators, or even solar power.

Just them being green hosting doesn't mean they are a good host. So that doesn't affect my decision at all.

I'll go with whichever one is the best host and has good reputation. Whether they are green or not.

Chad

I just had the weirdest experience with Fat Cow web hosting. I found them in a search and called them up to ask them some questions. I got a chipper-sounding woman on the line named Amy. It turns out that I live near them, but I wasn't aware of any wind farms in the area. As soon as I asked her which wind farm they used, she said that I had to speak to "operations" and she "transferred" me before I had a chance to say anything (but actually she disconnected me). I called back and got Amy on the line again. Before I continued, I got her assurances that she wouldn't disconnect me again. I asked a couple more questions -- and then she disconnected me again!

I can't imagine why they would treat a prospective customer like that. The questions I was asking were pretty basic: how long have they been in business?, where are they located?, do they have their own servers?, what wind farm is nearby that they are using? -- and also some questions about domain names and how I should open an account for a friend who is computer-illiterate. Since they are cheap and close by, I probably would have opened an account with them -- but not now.

I think anybody can use any number of metrics or features and say that their data centre is green. I think what's needed is a recognized certification to say that a data centre is environmentally-responsible in some way.

For example, the Uptime Institute (http://uptimeinstitute.com/) is recognized in its certification of data centre tiers (Tier I through IV).

Maybe if the data centre building was LEED certified, it would prove something too.

How seriously should I be taking Green Hosting? My webhost has nearly 1500 sites on my server alone. Is this a bad place to be?

I don't really understand why people think that buying carbon offsets doesn't help the environment. You clearly do not understand how a power grid works.

By buying carbon offsets, the money is put towards those wind farms to spool up their generators and provide more power to the grid. While this may not directly power your servers, it will power someone elses home, business, etc. This means that less fossil fuels will be needed to keep the grid up and running.

Another thing I've seen some green hosting outfits do is plant a tree program. For every account (or every 5 accounts, etc), they plant a tree. Typically they use a service for this, since its widely outside the scope of a hosting company to literally go out and plant a tree somewhere. I'm sure everyone can agree, that this DOES impact the environment.

What is green hosting, I think it is mainly a marketing term. I expect geen hosts to employ:

- CO2 neutral power: Wind, Solar, Water. But that is difficult and unreliable. It is ofter fixed by buying in power from distributors that buy in their power from these sources. But that does not mean that the power the servers are using are actually from those sources. We can also argue on Nuclear energy fitting in the green concept.

- Efficiënt ressource management: Providers should virtualize and optimize the hardware as much as possible. It does not only make it more greener, it also saves on power consumption and colocation bills.

- Activities of a hosting company are not only restricted to the datacentre. Other measures can be taken to be a green company: Offices close to public transport, use of bikes for short trips and no SUV's for the managment.

- And for the emissions that have to be done, a green company can buy some certificates or plant trees.

At the end of the day, most 'Green' measures are part of the way of doing our business.

I am planning my own site to sell health products. I planning to go for such site

If a site is called cabbagehosting, I think it is 100% green hosting.. Or should it be green leafy hosting?

If a site is called cabbagehosting, I think it is 100% green hosting.. Or should it be green leafy hosting?
Kidding aside everyone can help the environment in their own little ways..

But using the term green hosting would somehow tell you it is a marketing scheme.. I agree about having a certification body for this.. :)

just help environment... But who know about the true :D

"Green Hosting" is generally a marketing term but there is no harm in a company utilising the tag if they genuinely do seek ways of reducing their energy usage as well as mabie utilising less paper or recycling more.

Should you host with a company just because they market as green? No absolutely not. But finding a good host that does try to make a difference is a good thing.

There is many projects out there for companies to get involved in, weather that be to pay fees to offset their carbon or a project to change all the light bulbs in their offices to low power usage. Each and everyone of them usually has a benefit.

Green hosting firms use renewable energy such as solar power to power their datacenters.

Energy efficient hardware.. helps with power consumption.