Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Specialty Hosting and Markets : Green Hosting : Unique Green Hosting Scenario

[MTYWDC]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for a hosting company that is solar powered, or at least uses carbon offsets. The catch, the service needs to be able to accommodate at least one large traffic spike (over 1 million visitors per day to drupal).

I've heard AISO is good. Do you all have any recommendations? I'm especially interested in a cloud solution.

[portbridge]

I am unsure that there are places that you are looking for. Perhaps you need to find out about those that are housing their servers in Greeland (or is it Iceland?) where 98% of all power is from Geothermal?

[Lightbeing Creations]

AISO are very good and definitely worth a chat to.

[vWiz]

There's a few green hosts out there, googling them might bring em up. Aiso is a good start

[johngrey]

AISO is certainly a worthy contender. Hostgator also has gone green.

[Lightbeing Creations]

All Hostgator are doing is buying renewable energy credits, so at the end of the day, not really very green compared to other options out there.

[oldunis]

Why not host your website in Quebec? 98% of our electricity is Hydroelectricity. 0 carbon emissions.

[Dan Knauss]

AISO used to be pretty terrible. I went through a trial with them early last year and had to abandon it due to the usual permission problems on shared hosting for software like Wordpress.

I came back for a "green" client later after AISO got on the ball, and I have no major complaints now. Theirs is not the easiest or most convenient system to navigate (too many segregated accounts and control panels, some crappy interfaces), and I wish they would more prominently and quickly notify customers of service disruption.

My full review of AISO:
http://www.newlocalmedia.com/blog/76-green-hosting.html

[KNL-BSW]

Originally Posted by oldunis

Why not host your website in Quebec? 98% of our electricity is Hydroelectricity. 0 carbon emissions.

True green hosting isn't just about emissions, but would be about the impact on the enviroment.

I personally don't have an opinion, but I know there is a lot of debate about the effect of Dams, etc... on the natural river life.

[TheChemist]

Originally Posted by oldunis

Why not host your website in Quebec? 98% of our electricity is Hydroelectricity. 0 carbon emissions.

Perfect idea to the OP. Globally Quebec isn't the far out. The US will have great fast ping times and just like having a server in the US, European ping times will be decent. Looks like you've found a good spot in the middle of the globe where a hosting company can truly be green without having to put up there own wind turbines, solar panels, or hydro electric mechanisms.

[Eleven2 Hosting]

Isn't green hosting just a big marketing gimmick?

Do people really shop for a 'green' provider?
I think all companies, 'green' or not would love to be green as it is does save them money?

[TheChemist]

Originally Posted by sailorjr

Isn't green hosting just a big marketing gimmick?

Do people really shop for a 'green' provider?
I think all companies, 'green' or not would love to be green as it is does save them money?

You are joking right? Do you realize how big the United States is on going green. Huge. If a consumer was looking for a host and they found a green host no doubt they would choose it.

Why would they choose the host that uses a boatload of energy powered from a plant when they could choose a host that has wind powered or hydroelectric powered?

[Crashus]

Originally Posted by sailorjr

Isn't green hosting just a big marketing gimmick?

Do people really shop for a 'green' provider?
I think all companies, 'green' or not would love to be green as it is does save them money?

I think the more people going 'green' the cleaner our planet is so green-hosting is actually very cool thing.

[Eleven2 Hosting]

Partially joking.

I think being green is great, nothing against our planet. However doing the things like solar panels and pure wind is a bit overboard in my opinion. I really see green hosting as a marketing ploy and that is it (except for the tree huggers - who do not see it that way, and they are right to their opinions).

I have lots of green initiatives in our companies and we are always trying to make our planet a better place, so nothing against that.

[TheChemist]

I got the wrong impression. I thought you were saying what is the big deal with Green Hosting. Sorry I jumped.

The big deal to me is the simple fact that we have the most catastrophic event in history on our hands in the Gulf of Mexico due to oil drilling. To offset the damage that this is doing to the environment every Datacenter woudl have to buy 100 acres and put up turbines.

Also, solar panels. How are they not more redundant then a cable that runs power. How is a wind turbine less redundant then a powerplant. All it takes is a little bit of sunshine and some wind and you ahve the most redundant Network/Datacenter in the country. You could withdo with all generators.