Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Specialty Hosting and Markets : Green Hosting : Green host provider?

[ahsima]

In the present host market which is the best green host provider. And how a host provider is ranked as a better green host provider. As for as the end customer is concerned what is the benefit he gets if a host provider is green?

[NetKaZu]

hostpapa seem to be the top green host provider and for the benifit i have no clue seem to be a good question

[virtualnoc]

Benefits would be things such as:
A) Marketing: Able to advertise x amount of energy they save because of the technology they choose to use.
B) Requirements: Any government or industry requirements to reduce energy consumption / environmental impact.
C) Commitments: Many companies choose to commit to reducing their footprint which green hosting would help them to accomplish.

[rasputin]

Stamped Green is a good place to start.

http://stampedgreen.com

They have a list of eco friendly hosting providers.

[#su~]

Dynamic Hosting does Green, Canadian hosting. We're currently offsetting our power through Bullfrog power and are also committed to reducing our footprint around our office (paperless etc.)

[JessHost]

HostGator its green.. They say..

[coderiser]

Originally Posted by JessHost

HostGator its green.. They say..

hostgator is 120% windpowered

that means they are putting 20% more energy back into the grid than they are using

[chrisjara]

Originally Posted by coderiser

hostgator is 120% windpowered

that means they are putting 20% more energy back into the grid than they are using

I didn't believe this when I first read it so I checked out Hostgator's website. They are doing the same thing some of us do to offset our carbon footprint; buying green credits.

"HostGator has purchased certified Renewable Energy Credits representing 130% of the electricity used...While we can't build a wind farm here in downtown Houston, we're doing the next best thing"

[brenton17jul1948]

green hosting is good. because it uses natural resources in data center.

[rasputin]

Originally Posted by brenton17jul1948

green hosting is good. because it uses natural resources in data center.

What natural resources in the data center is it using?

[Brian_R]

The vast majority of 'green-ness' of hosting is down to the source of the power - renewable v fossil fuel. The vast majority of DCs use grid power. Therefore (arguably) the best way to tell whether a DC is 'green' (at least in emissions terms) is to look at the emissions rates of the power grids in the DC's location.

The UK government publishes a set of country-based statistics for greenhouse gas emissions for companies to use when reporting their global emissions.

It doesn't go any more detailed than country so in some ways is rather unfair to some eg areas of US/Canada where the local utility is all hydro power but it's the best I've got! It also obviously doesn't cover those DCs who do genuinely generate their own local power (as opposed to buying green credits which is included in the figures as they are still using grid power).

It's a bit unwieldy, but you can get it at http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/...on-factors.htm.

I've extracted the following table from the long spreadsheet, it shows 2006 emissions by country (for those countries covered, and with some regional averages included). It would be interesting to see a comparable column for cost per kWh also.

kgCO2/kWh Country
1 0.00106 Iceland
2 0.00763 Norway
3 0.02792 Switzerland
4 0.04735 Sweden
5 0.09083 France
6 0.09593 Brazil
7 0.16315 Lithuania
8 0.19715 Latvia
9 0.20024 Canada
10 0.22800 Austria
11 0.23275 Latin America
12 0.24448 Slovak Republic
13 0.25417 Finland
14 0.27400 Belgium
15 0.33072 Luxembourg
16 0.33422 New Zealand
17 0.35419 Russian Federation
18 0.36293 Slovenia
19 0.36560 Croatia
20 0.37098 Hungary
21 0.38752 Spain
22 0.38819 Denmark
23 0.42730 Italy
24 0.42949 Netherlands
25 0.43066 Ukraine
26 0.43093 Germany
27 0.43927 Japan
28 0.45070 Portugal
29 0.50051 Philippines
30 0.51291 Romania
31 0.51434 Turkey
32 0.52836 Bulgaria
33 0.55209 Pakistan
34 0.55227 Korea, Republic of
35 0.55568 Thailand
36 0.56231 Egypt
37 0.56695 Singapore
38 0.58099 Ireland
39 0.59130 Non-OECD Europe
40 0.59239 Czech Republic
41 0.59990 United States
42 0.65684 Mexico
43 0.68425 Chinese Taipei
44 0.68454 Malaysia
45 0.71614 Poland
46 0.73000 Gibraltar
47 0.73326 Africa
48 0.74921 Estonia
49 0.77202 Indonesia
50 0.77932 Middle-East
51 0.78912 Cyprus
52 0.79728 Israel
53 0.80382 Greece
54 0.81894 Saudi Arabia
55 0.84284 China, People's Republic of
56 0.93596 South Africa
57 0.94321 Malta
58 0.95976 Hong Kong (China)
59 0.99646 Australia
60 1.28926 India

[samnugro]

As for as the end customer is concerned what is the benefit he gets if a host provider is green?

if your company do not pursue any green certification, I guess there's no direct benefit..

[Brian_R]

Originally Posted by samnugro

if your company do not pursue any green certification, I guess there's no direct benefit..

1. Carbon taxes - in UK, for example, all larger consumers of electricity (those on half-hour meters) will be subject to the Carbon Reduction Commitment tax from later this year - details are still not clear but it is likely to add 5-10% to the already high cost of power in the UK (DC's are typically around £50-£70 per 230V amp).

2. Power Shortages - the countries at the top of that list below are generally those with lots of hydro or other power. The UK is short of power, and getting large amounts is one of the biggest challenges of setting up a new DC. Indirectly, this drives up the cost of hosting and colo as it limits new entrants.

3. Corporate Social Responsibility - (insert your own value judgements here, but the following is, I think, a fair reflection of most large corporates view) organisations have a duty to be a positive benefit on the communities they operate in. This includes, but is not limited to, envinromental aspects including carbon. Using green hosting/DC services contributes to their CSR, which is increasingly visible and being pushed by the companies - eg direct links from their home pages and extensive and detailed published reports.

[and5rey]

GreenGeeks is also a good one.

[DJInBoise]

Originally Posted by JessHost

HostGator its green.. They say..

I went with HostGator so I could offer green hosting to others. Being green doesn't mean just having green power to run servers. It's a frame of mine to being committed to being a good steward of our planet. Recycling, reusing, energy friendly PC's and going the whole 9 yards. I'm just a small company now but as I grow my goal has always been to be friendly to the environment. I used to live in Seattle. :-)