Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Specialty Hosting and Markets : Green Hosting : Good examples of Green DCs

[Brian_R]

I was talking recently with the IT director of a water and sewage utility company, and he mentioned their new DC project. They are powering the DC with sewage sludge (yes, that is what you think it might be) similar in principle I guess to landfill gas power. I can't remember the numbers of the top of my head, but he was talking about substantial generation capacity on site from the sludge - 100's of kWs if not MWs. Although I'm not sure I'd want to spend too much time there (!), I was rather impressed with this innovative approach.

I read on another thread that Hostgator are generating wind power at each of their sites equivalent to 120% of their usage (although I can't find anything to back that up on Hostgator's website, though I have no reason to doubt it). Again, impressive if true.

The Thor Data Centre in Iceland (hands up here as we represent them) runs on a totally renewables based power grid, with no fossil fuels used for grid power. So practically zero carbon emissions.

More and more people are going to be looking to options like the above as fuel costs and carbon taxes (eg UK CRC tax) continue to rise.

What other impressive energy/CO2 saving programmes have you seen? (And please, not just buying so-called green electricity from a brown grid or doing carbon offsets)

[demmicru]

is a Good examples of Green site map for derogatory idea your we ghosting ..

[demmicru]

is a Good examples of Green site map for derogatory idea your we ghosting ..

[atjeu]

here is the link about hostgator and wind energy

http://www.hostgator.com/green-web-hosting.shtml

It is only their shared and reseller acount servers and it looks like they have just purchased credits to offset their carbon footprint. So it is not that their data center is powered by wind. it would take a ridiculous amount of wind mills to power a big data center.

[media-hosts_com]

Let me get this straight... So by purchasing "Credits" from a for-profit company, they have the ability to say their service is green? Yet their DC(s) still run 100% off the grid?

In Canada you actually have to pay a different rate (2-3x more) for "Green" energy and it's provided by other companies that actually have the wind/solar farms.

Buying "Credits" doesn't really seem to help the environment much because you aren't reducing the demand of the "dirty" power companies at all... Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Techy]

Originally Posted by media-hosts_com

Let me get this straight... So by purchasing "Credits" from a for-profit company, they have the ability to say their service is green? Yet their DC(s) still run 100% off the grid?

In Canada you actually have to pay a different rate (2-3x more) for "Green" energy and it's provided by other companies that actually have the wind/solar farms.

Buying "Credits" doesn't really seem to help the environment much because you aren't reducing the demand of the "dirty" power companies at all... Correct me if I'm wrong.

Yes and no, but you are coming very close . Buying the credits helps reduce the carbon footprint, but you are correc when you say the power grid is not green. Many people are fooled by these tactics because it truly isn't "green powered". The company just purchases a credit to help lower the carbon footprint elsewhere.

[DJInBoise]

I saw a story here in Idaho how dairy farms are using cow manure to generate power and return it to the grid. I just wish our leaders would attract companies looking to build green datacenters. Power is cheap here because we use hydro dams in the Pacific NW. Facebook picked Prineville, OR for their first datacenter.

Here's the story if you are interested:
http://www.ktvb.com/home/Cow-Power-g...116710339.html

[RackAlley]

Originally Posted by atjeu

here is the link about hostgator and wind energy

http://www.hostgator.com/green-web-hosting.shtml

It is only their shared and reseller acount servers and it looks like they have just purchased credits to offset their carbon footprint. So it is not that their data center is powered by wind. it would take a ridiculous amount of wind mills to power a big data center.

hostgator is just a reseller (huge one) for the planet - I dont think they own their data center nor have any control over their power source.

[HIG-Jerry]

Originally Posted by RackAlley

hostgator is just a reseller (huge one) for the planet - I dont think they own their data center nor have any control over their power source.

And I believe all they do is purchase RECs to attempt to offset their carbon footprint.

[sautaja]

BurstNet is green too. It purchased renewable wind energy certificates some time ago.

[sautaja]

By the way, I like the idea of Google's Finland data center. It is cooled by Baltic Sea water

[Saket]

I heard Facebook were building a state of the art green DC somewhere in Oregon.

[Jesse-LD]

Originally Posted by Saket Kale

I heard Facebook were building a state of the art green DC somewhere in Oregon.

Yeah - Facebook are but also BurstNET has a green dc. I think something like 50% of it is powered by wind.

[DJInBoise]

Originally Posted by Saket Kale

I heard Facebook were building a state of the art green DC somewhere in Oregon.

It's already online. It's in Prineville, OR which is just outside of Bend, OR. I believe you can find a tour of the DC on YouTube. It's pretty interesting how they cool the servers.

[Dr_Michael]

What about hetzner?

http://www.hetzner.de/en/hosting/unt...n/umweltschutz