Green hosting:
Good companies like dreamhost, Thinkhost, AISO are in the lead.
But are others following the lead? What do you think?

HostGator is one of them.

There are a number of companies moving that direction. Some are using it for marketing purposes, others are on a mission to save the world. :D
Saving the world is a good thing. I'm on the bandwagon. I don't even use plastic bags at the stores anymore, shop at Fresh and Easy so I can park in the hybrid parking spaces, and work from home as often as possible. :)

How do the servers go 'green'?

Many of these companies seem to be just on a marketing campaign. I think it's nice and all to use servers that use less resources but some boast about the practice, exaggerating it to a lot more than it really is.

How do the servers go 'green'?
We are replacing the old servers with the new ones, and virtualizing to save the power usage.

We are replacing the old servers with the new ones, and virtualizing to save the power usage.
Doesn't sounds like making a big difference..

In fact, it's a big difference. The first replacing that we did 2 years ago is replacing 20 P4 servers by 5 Opteron one. Power decreased, meanwhile performance increases. Now, we are going to virtualize our systems with new quad-cores 45nm servers, and I am seeing another big saving. Do it, then you can see yourself :)

How do the servers go 'green'?
You can certainly do a number of things to be 'green'...
1) Buy Green Tags. (Or e-Tags, as they are called.) This just means that the energy that you use is created by a green source (wind, solar, hydro) and delivered to the power grid you're connected to. (Even though you aren't using it necessarily.)
2) Use more energy friendly servers. You can purchase servers that for example, have 2 servers within a single case, sharing a common power supply... In addition, using CPUs with 'speed-stepping' technology, so that CPUs that aren't being used are dropped to lower clock speeds. (AMD has mastered this technology well.) Speed-stepping will reduce the amount of heat and voltage used during off-peak times.
3) Virtualization - you can more effectively use your server hardware. In this way, you can potentially reduce the number of servers consuming energy.
4) Running an efficient datacenter. It's amazing what a little silicone can do for a datacenter. Not to mention how your AC ducts is laid out within the datacenter. You can greatly reduce your carbon footprint and energy consumed.
5) And of course, obviously ... windmills on the datacenter roof, solar panels, etc. I doubt you will find many datacenters with that though.
And there are many other ways...

5) And of course, obviously ... windmills on the datacenter roof, solar panels, etc. I doubt you will find many datacenters with that though.
I wonder which datacenter will invest in placing them..

I wonder which datacenter will invest in placing them..
I don't foresee many placing them.
Considering that a single windmill can cost $40k+ each...
In addition to the space required to place them, and getting the city to approve it.
They say it's a 5 year ROI for windmills.
Solar panels, that would be a better option. But costly as well.

Wow... Great tips on going green.. Never thought that a data center could be 100% solar powered..

Green hosting:
Good companies like dreamhost, Thinkhost, AISO are in the lead.
But are others following the lead? What do you think?
You can also consider:
sustainablewebsites.com
sustainablehosting.com
greenhosting.org
hostpapa.com
www.acornhost.com
UHB (Webhostingbuzz.com)
www.ecosky.com
www.pair.com
Hope you can choose the one best :)

Green hosting:
Good companies like dreamhost, Thinkhost, AISO are in the lead.
But are others following the lead? What do you think?
Dreamhost sure isn't in the lead. They just jumped on the bandwagon and did it as a marketing ploy after a few others set the standard.

This is not just green it is also profitable.Even buying windmills and solar cost money after certain time investement start to return,and then you can grab that money which usualy would go for electricty bill.

I am not sure I got that "green" thing on servers right. Do you have any examples with green servers that already exist?

Carbon-hype is just massive PR campaign to raise taxes. Don't buy into it.

Too many companies are dishonestly claiming to be "green", for the sole purpose of marketing.

Exactly, you can really be green where a server is concerned.

Wow... Great tips on going green.. Never thought that a data center could be 100% solar powered..
I kinda wonder how a datacenter is 100% solar. I mean, you can't really harness sunlight at night. They probably have an alternate power source for night (so they really cannot be 100% solar).

If they are certified by an external and trustful organization then I am all for it. At the moment however it seems to be a bit like the organic foods market where you have many people making claims where only a select few back it up with certification.

I kinda wonder how a datacenter is 100% solar. I mean, you can't really harness sunlight at night. They probably have an alternate power source for night (so they really cannot be 100% solar).
Batteries would solve that....
However, I find it really hard to believe that there is enough surface area on the top of a data center to allow it to produce enough power to run itself.
On there website they don't really show proof all all this technology. I see one solar panel picture (they provide a webcam)... solar panel seems large enough to power a moderate house I suppose. AISO.Net also talks about cooling using water... I just cant find enough information to support the technology they use to have the capacity to cool a data center (Im in the HVAC field these days)

My walmart has gone green (solar panels produce 100% of there energy) I dont expect it to be long for dcs to go to solar as well.

I don't foresee many placing them.
Considering that a single windmill can cost $40k+ each...
In addition to the space required to place them, and getting the city to approve it.
They say it's a 5 year ROI for windmills.
Solar panels, that would be a better option. But costly as well.
Ive seen datacenters built cost 100+ million. and they make a couple million a year. im sure a 40k windmill would not be to bad to go green with that amount of money

Hey, each google search costs us 0.2g carbon emissions. I am all for green computing :)

I dont think many hosts that boast about being green are actually green. I know that our company we cant make everything green so we pay to have it offset by a 3rd party company. We pay x amount per tonnage of energy we use in our office and the servers we own. The money that we spend on being carbon neutral goes to wind and solar farms.
In order to lower the cost in the actual server power usage we use water cooling to reduce the power usage with fans inside the servers.

Carbon-hype is just massive PR campaign to raise taxes. Don't buy into it.
This is not true carbon hype is proved beyond doubt by many scientists, this can be verified by published resources.
It is mandatory for all DC to move into this path soon, but the cost involved in moving green should not added in the server cost :)

It is mandatory for all DC to move into this path soon
Could you reference the legislation or regulations that make this mandatory? Thanks.

This is not true carbon hype is proved beyond doubt by many scientists, this can be verified by published resources.
It is mandatory for all DC to move into this path soon, but the cost involved in moving green should not added in the server cost :)
Do you know that carbon dioxide is one of the main components of life? Plants breathe it. We exhale carbon dioxide. These three facts should be enough to prove that it is safe.
Resources published by whom? All scientist don't agree on it, just search 'global warming' in youtube.

Hostgator and those companies dont control their datacenters so its just marketing for them. They are for sure not using solar power at their office or servers or doing anything on their network side, they just buy tags

I would say Aiso.net is the only green host that is actually 100% green. Solar powered DC, thats what I call GREEN.

Stop using those damm fuel cars, that would be go green

I agree that it's just a marketing ploy for the most part. Most "green" hosts are no different than any other host.

Over the years the whole industry has become more "green" overall by default due to technology using less power (compare LCD vs old CRT).

Is Green hosting a niche?
Does anyone think there's good profit to be made by doing it, as well as a good quality service and saving the planet and all the rest?

20 P4s replaced by 5 Opterons is a hell of a lot of power saving, but I'd naturally assume a big saving for the provider as well as the client.

Hostgator and those companies dont control their datacenters so its just marketing for them. They are for sure not using solar power at their office or servers or doing anything on their network side, they just buy tags

I would say Aiso.net is the only green host that is actually 100% green. Solar powered DC, thats what I call GREEN.

Stop using those damm fuel cars, that would be go green

Have you seen the price of those non-fuel cars?!

Once the price of non-fuel cars is equal or lower then fuel cars, we can talk :rolleyes:

Is Green hosting a niche?
Does anyone think there's good profit to be made by doing it, as well as a good quality service and saving the planet and all the rest?


Some people will pay 3-4 times extra for certified Green (or Organic/Ethical/etc) so there's plenty of scope for mark-up.

Some people will pay 3-4 times extra for certified Green (or Organic/Ethical/etc) so there's plenty of scope for mark-up.

Yeap but the problem is what does mean certified green mean?

Those websites green certification services i saw are just "money". You pay and get a green logo. As far as im concerned they dont mean green for me, if they would have planted 100 threes they are more green then having a green seal which was just paid as a marketing tool.

Some green certs are pure business and dont do anything at all for the word.

The only green host I now is www.aiso.net

Most green initatives are some form of carbon offsetting, but i am skeptical whether paying someone to plant a few trees is actually enviornmentally beneficial.

Part of the problem is that very few committed enviornmentalists are technically-minded in issues such as power distribution of civil engineering.

Like most (if not all) have said, for the most part, green hosting is a marketing ploy. Other than AISO, there has been no proof of how hosting companies have gone green, power consumption savings by buying more efficient servers and CRT > LCD (as one of the previous posters have mentioned) aside, there is no proof. Until proof is showed, I'm not convinced.

Do you notice that AISO charges a lot more than standard hosting companies? They have a setup fee of $20 and you can pay $9.95 for 750MB space.

Most green initatives are some form of carbon offsetting, but i am skeptical whether paying someone to plant a few trees is actually enviornmentally beneficial.

Part of the problem is that very few committed enviornmentalists are technically-minded in issues such as power distribution of civil engineering.

The problem with carbon offsetting is that most people think or pay this as the only enviroment alternative and the world is a whole bigger than the United States. If your not in the US or in a country that allows you to do it, carbon offsetting means nothing. I really dont think its an alternative to be a green host and its for sure useless for hosts outside the US or hosts that have broad international audience where people would care less about it.

I really think donating to Greenpeace is probably a more green approach. Its wonders me the lack of imagination of most hosts as they think carbon offsetting is the only approach. There are millions of things we can do for our mother earth.

Still does that make someone a green host? I dont think so, unless you use Solar Power and dont print papers on office anymore and have a wide politic from the very beginning of the company to be a green host.

Sure its nice to have but look at HostGator, they marketed themselfs as greenhosts and they dont even own a motherboard. They advertised on their website being a green host and doing tons of things for it and the only think they did was by carbon offsetting but consumed the same resources on The Planet which makes it a marketing plot.

If this is to be a green host I really prefer not be one since that is to ******** your clients. Virtualization is going green but since most already do it, to be green you have to be more then that. How about donating 20% of the profits to green organizations? That would make a host green. If a company like HostGator that earns millions buys a logo that costs 200$ a month it doesnt make it green. Its costs nothing to them in regards to the enviroment they damage if we consider servers to be electric intensive and non green. How about donating a % of their incomes? Im sure 90% of the green hosts will jump out of the train if that was the green approach we where talking about.

How about stop using fuel cars and even do it with employees? Electric cars, dont use a single sheet of paper at office anymore. Power the whole building with Solar Power. Full DC is almost impossible but at least office. How about planting a park. Donating % of incomes. Etc. Thats what I see as a green approach. I mean everything helps but if you want to market yourself as a green host and actually charge more for it and uses it as a stong point you should change the whole picture not just a simple thing.

Have you seen the price of those non-fuel cars?!

Once the price of non-fuel cars is equal or lower then fuel cars, we can talk :rolleyes:

I did not said being green was cheap. :)

If it where, we all would be green already :agree:

I'm very skeptical of classifying energy efficiency as a mark of being green. For a 100% non-carbon powered host wasting 30% rather than 50% of energy should not matter to the environment.

One day all hosts will be green. But those who were green first, made a lot of sale to the green people. :D

I've definitely been noticing the green trend with web hosts and datacenters recently. It started out as a small-time host gimmick, maybe, but a lot of major companies have been picking up on it recently. I know IBM was partnering with a university- I don't remember which- to build a green datacenter. Its just a smart business decision- people will like your company more, and you'll save money. GNAX (http://www.gnax.com) for one is getting in on it. I found an article on their site the other day about it, written by their president or CEO, or whichever. Pretty good read: http://www.gnax.net/pdf/GNAX_Green_Initiatives.pdf

In the end, the only 'green' measures that ARE measurably 'green' are, in turn, also effective cost saving measures.. so in the end, EVERY host should be attempting to go somewhat 'green', but should always be wary of drinking a little too much of the green kool-aid, lest they end up buying into 'green' solutions that are, well, not green.

I very sceptical about green hosting i mean you still need electricity plus computers? how can you make it green?

Each one of my dual quad core servers consume about the same electricity as a 100w light bulb. when under load that goes up to 2X or 3X however when low load, like from midnight until about 9 am it can be lower.
I as a rule do not waste things, I walk quite often instead of driving, I do not subscribe to magazines or newspapers, (on line kills no trees) I do not smoke, and I do not throw garbage just anywhere.
As for my hosting company being green, I can not think of a way to do that efficiently and provide great reliable service...Unless, I burned the money clients payed to generate my electricity!
As for GREEN, You make the difference, driving 5 to 10 mins to get to work, pollutes more than 1 server does in a year...

Does anybody know of or use any UK based green hosts here?

All the green hosts i've found are usually in the US or have bad bandwidth deals.

can you explain how we can know if this hosting use "green server" and not just campaign? maybe you can share any tips and trick show to identify it?

Not having a car is the best way to be green agreed. I personally haven't owned a car since 2007 and working from home cuts down a huge amount of pollution.

Also its really more important to see where your DC is sourcing its power from. We just signed a 3 year deal with Interactive in Melbourne who from November are going to be using 100% Green Power from AGL.

Green Geeks, LLC today announced its purchase of green power and its partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Partnership.

Source: http://www.myhostnews.com/2009/09/epa-recognizes-green-geeks-llc-among-nations-leading-green-power-purchasers/

It sounds like Green Geeks is really trying to make a difference.

How do the servers go 'green'?
You can certainly do a number of things to be 'green'...
1) Buy Green Tags. (Or e-Tags, as they are called.) This just means that the energy that you use is created by a green source (wind, solar, hydro) and delivered to the power grid you're connected to. (Even though you aren't using it necessarily.)
2) Use more energy friendly servers. You can purchase servers that for example, have 2 servers within a single case, sharing a common power supply... In addition, using CPUs with 'speed-stepping' technology, so that CPUs that aren't being used are dropped to lower clock speeds. (AMD has mastered this technology well.) Speed-stepping will reduce the amount of heat and voltage used during off-peak times.
3) Virtualization - you can more effectively use your server hardware. In this way, you can potentially reduce the number of servers consuming energy.
4) Running an efficient datacenter. It's amazing what a little silicone can do for a datacenter. Not to mention how your AC ducts is laid out within the datacenter. You can greatly reduce your carbon footprint and energy consumed.
5) And of course, obviously ... windmills on the datacenter roof, solar panels, etc. I doubt you will find many datacenters with that though.
And there are many other ways...


nice thank for sharing green server tips :)

I very sceptical about green hosting i mean you still need electricity plus computers? how can you make it green?

Why are you skeptical of "green" hosting? Yes, you still need electricity to power servers however, making it "green" refers to either purchasing credits from the power company for power that is consumed from natural resources such as solar panels, wind power etc. OR upgrading servers that require significantly less amounts of power or virtualizing with software such as VMware which can reduce the amount of servers you need, thus reducing the amount of power you consume. Going green doesnt mean not using electricity...it means creating electricity from renewable environment-friendly resources like wind or solar power. The electricity still goes through the same power lines in most cases, its just coming from another source other than like fossil fuels etc. Hope this helps... Also, some of these are green "initiatives".....

what i first think green = money :(

what i first think green = money :(

and you know what? you are right! dozens of companies use the same hardware and charge big money after adding "Green" logo. And they find thousands of idiots.

Sure, there are companies which really care about green stuff, but there are not many of these.

many company have to turn green or risk to loose customers.

Let's push for greener datacenters!!

LOL. That was funny. Do you use only GREEN companies? I don't think so.

LOL. That was funny. Do you use only GREEN companies? I don't think so.

I'll try to LOL

So do you work with GREEN companies only?

and you know what? you are right! dozens of companies use the same hardware and charge big money after adding "Green" logo. And they find thousands of idiots.

Sure, there are companies which really care about green stuff, but there are not many of these.

Being in Quebec (Canada), we have the great advantage of being powered by Hydro Quebec (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydro_quebec#Power_generation). Not only is Hydro Electricity green but it is also much cheaper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydro_quebec#Rates_and_customers) which gives a competitive advantage.

Some companies do care :)

I believe AISO is running off their own solar gris and everything.

There was a point made here, that I tend to agree with.

The last time I looked for a green host (because I do care about making a difference), I found that they were much more expensive.

I guess I don't understand that concept. Going green should be energy and recourse efficient. This means you should be using less energy. That also means your energy costs should be down. Then how does this constitute charging more?

Maybe I'm missing something?

The concept is extremely simple - these companies just want to find fanatics of "green stuff" who will gladly pay double or triple price for THE SAME thing (but they will think they pay for green).

Green hosting costs sooooooooooo much more so i would stay with normal hosting :stickout:

that's my point Timo. Why does it cost so much more? Isn't it true that green hosting is supposed to cut down on resource usage and energy costs? If this is true, and energy costs are lower then the overhead to offer it should be lower, thus the end cost should also be lower. That is just my take. Again, I may be missing something.

I know Leaseweb is offering "green hosting" that's actually cheaper than their normal offering, but as far I can tell, it's really only the cooling that's "green".

that's my point Timo. Why does it cost so much more? Isn't it true that green hosting is supposed to cut down on resource usage and energy costs? If this is true, and energy costs are lower then the overhead to offer it should be lower, thus the end cost should also be lower. That is just my take. Again, I may be missing something.

HAHAHA :D

You don't get it, do you? There was a "green" consulting firm going around (iemarketservices.com) that went to all the web hosting firms and pitched to them how it would cost maybe 1% of their revenue to buy RECs (renewable energy credits) that allow them to say they are "carbon neutral", and the boost in marketing and sales alone would help them earn more than that 1%. (They convinced Hostgator, DreamHost, and a few others)

The only web hosting that really seemed "honestly" green (was green before the rush) is ThinkHost (they even plant a tree for each customer they get). But overall, it's best to go with a quality webhost and donate that 1% of your web hosting cost to a nonprofit yourself.

There is no *major* web hosting that is CURRENTLY powered DIRECTLY by wind or solar, they just all chip in 1% of their revenue to buy RECs that make them "carbon neutral" (even if they are still pumping out carbon, haha).

There is no *major* web hosting that is CURRENTLY powered DIRECTLY by wind or solar, they just all chip in 1% of their revenue to buy RECs that make them "carbon neutral" (even if they are still pumping out carbon, haha).

What counts as "major"? AISO is directly, fully powered by solar arrays they have on site.

Green hosting is the future of this business, so we all shud give priority to the companies which are promoting Green hosting and willing to keep our earth clean and green.

8/10 business saying they are green are lieng. they just use it as a way to promote their services. and to show they are diffrent then the rest. while most of them arent becouse they are lieng.

Alot of companies use regular servers but buy energy offset which is just as good.

And even more companies do nothing but use "Green" logo on their sites to justify higher prices :)

I didnt know about this before, it s great to her green business now extended to hosting indusrty, good for the future of the business

i think its very interesting how the trend of being green can infiltrate so many mediums of business and seriously there usually at a higher price but people buy because they are green.

The green "fad" is ridiculous in my opinion. Does the hosting industry even have a huge impact on the green scene? It isn't like you hear in the news everyday a host is damaging to the environment.

Just a gimmicky marketing scheme.

The only thing green about them is they are taking more green ($$$) from you. I'd rather stay with my host (who I doubt are cutting/burning trees and hurting animals) than spend more money to feed the marketing gurus.

How do the servers go 'green'?

Does planting one tree for per customer makes a hosting green?
I appreciate the good cause behind it.

But I thought green hosting is something where natural energy sources are used to the mximum to reduce global warming and pollution. I'm sure no majaor datacenters are this 'green'.

How do hosting companies get involved with 'plant a tree' schemes?

I want to do it but I dont want to plant the trees myself.

Can you pay organisations a monthly fee to plant trees so that the hosting company can then plant per customer?

Do you know of any?

many thanks,

I'm on the bandwagon. I don't even use plastic bags at the stores anymore, shop at Fresh and Easy so I can park in the hybrid parking spaces, and work from home as often as possible.

I have green server chasis, does that count? :D

I have green server chasis, does that count? :D

Haha! I'm pretty sure that's not the case. :P

Anyway, I think green hosting looks very good on your site/business and somehow makes clients sign up a bit more. However, it's not really a good idea to lie that your hosting is green when it officially isn't (and I know quite a few companies that probably do this.)

I still try to find an authority who declares a hosting as green host provider. Or with solar / wind energy cells we can announce as a green host provider

Green hosting:
Good companies like dreamhost, Thinkhost, AISO are in the lead.
But are others following the lead? What do you think?

HostATree and HostAVPS are both Green providers. Most of our clientele enjoy our intiative.

wow, this is the 1st time I hear that hostGator is green :o

but I don't think that these days most clients think about that as a plus - tag "green" always involves higher charges :)

Good to know about companies moving to green hosting concept. This concept also help them with environmental / ethical marketing concept.