Green Hosting

Posted by A. Caleb Hartley on September 4th, 2008 filed in energy, green, host

environmentastic!’s webhost recently went green!

Yes, I’m a little ashamed to admit that environmentastic! was not hosted originally on a green webhost, and even when we switched to Hostgator (for service and reliability reasons – don’t EVER use e3 servers to host your webpage!), they were not green.

The reason (not an excuse, a reason) was that I needed a reseller hosting account, as I host and run several websites for my wife and myself, and also a couple for friends and our neighborhood organization.  Once I had decided on Hostgator, I set it up and really haven’t been back to their site.  Their service and reliability is so good that I haven’t had a need to!

That said, an e-friend just switched hosting companies and moved to Hostgator.  Lisa at My Thoughts, Ideas, and Ramblings was having trouble with her old host and switched.  She mentioned that Hostgator offset 130% of their energy usage for servers and cooling (yes, MORE than their actual usage, and for server cooling, too!) by purchasing RECs (renewable energy credits).  Essentially, an REC is a way for a company or individual to purchase energy from renewable sources (like wind), even if it is not available directly to them at their location.  In other words, the energy Hostgator is buying doesn’t necessarily power their servers and a/c, but it is produced and fed into the power grid, where it commingles and is used just like any other energy.  The great thing about an REC is that, once purchased by one person or company, that energy cannot be purchased by another.  It’s not diluted by selling the same energy to multiple people, each believing they’re getting the full use of that power once it has been generated.

So now that environmentastic! is officially hosted green, I’ve decided that I will sell hosting! “environmentastic! green hosting” has a nice little ring to it, I think!

Namaste,
A. Caleb Hartley

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Is your host green? Would you switch to a green host, even if it cost a little bit more? Why or why not? Host your answers in the comments!

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