Hi guys. Just wanted to make a few comments on Green DCs and hosting - as it is something that is close to all of us. There are such considerations as energy sources - i.e. renewable or not. Renewable energy comes in various forms, on shore/off shore wind, photovoltaics etc. A good supplier should be able to give you an option to take a renewable feed. Then there is the building design. In the UK (Europe?) we now have BREEAM certificates, in the US there LEED - Google them. Then, of course there is the old PUE rating. Further to this you can look at recycling your old hardware - we have a company that comes round and picks up our IT trash, takes it away and charges us nothing; in fact they should be paying us I think.. One thing I forgot to mention, if you have trouble sourcing renewable energy, you can do carbon off-setting. We were purchasing protected land in South America somewhere until we went 100% renewable.

Finally, how about your back/head office? Are you recycling the trash? There are plenty of things to cover of you want to be fully 'Green'. But the more you put into this the more you can shout about it!

Oh, almost forgot, we are thinking about rolling out a whole low energy chip offering for our Managed products - suggest you do the same if you are offering managed - check the Dell R?15 models

Green hosts are generally ones who buy "green credits." The green credits they purchase are used to build new wind turbines and support existing ones. In all reality they aren't doing much to make thier company more green. Some claim to be purchasing 110% of what they use, since they aren't really using wind power they aren't really helping the environment.

Taking the environment into consideration is always great, however I think the majority of web hosts who claim to offer "green web hosting" are simply doing it as a marketing scheme.

I think green hosting is simply a technique to attract customers.

greengeeks hosting might be?

I think some of these points have validity but it's also up to the customers to check the credentials of product they are purchasing. Data Centres in general reduce the electricity draw. If all the servers, SANs, switches, routers etc were taken out and hosted locally in offices and bedrooms etc., the overall draw on power resources would probably double, or more. Sure, to say 'we use renewable energy' sounds good, because it is good - if it is true. EDF, our supplier uses a all kinds of photovoltaic, wind, biomass to give us a 100% renewable feed, and we pay a premium for it. Anyone who pays this premium should be able to advertise this as a value added, like any other value added they can offer. Of course, those who advertise this but are not telling the truth should be immediately named and shamed. If you have come across these guys, let us know. We can make a list here..

oh ye, I would also like to mention the difference between green credits and renewable energy purchase - different concepts of course. The latter has not always been available. I also notice that most if not all of these negative comments are coming from American individuals. As a Brit and a European, we know how much negative propaganda your country pumps out in an attempt to undermine environmental initiatives small or big. I think your cynicism is healthy but let's have a some more positive criticism than 'they are all lying' and 'what's the point?'. Hosting is basically a reselling of DC server space. Find out where the physical servers are located and ask the building operator if they are taking renewable energy feeds from their supplier. If the are, they will be happy to tell you. If they aren't, the find one that is and move. You are as responsible as anyone else. OK, I will stop ranting now

A quick hit on the Googlator found something in the US called the CleanPower choice program. I'm not sure if that is just linked to New Jersy. I also found some other suppliers that DCs can use: Green Mountain Energy, these guys seem to cover NY, NJ and Texas. Also, Community Energy, who say they are 'developing utility-scale solar generation in the East, Mid-West and West'.

Vote with your feet everyone!

Interesting topic! It seems to me that the green / low energy things are less popular in the US vs. Europe. We are constantly pushing our US partners to move towards renewable energy solutions but in some areas they simple aren't available even as an option. Not even if you are willing to pay a premium. To keep our footprint low we have been buying only low powered chips (Intel Xeon L-series) and migrating users to the new hardware as well as only offering L-series Xenon for our Managed servers. Everything helps!

There are many so-called green web hosts who don't run any environmentally friendly technologies at all, but instead buy RECs as a marketing tactics. Many of the RECs merely go toward helping such companies heighten their green portfolios, just to meet EPA or government guidelines. Customers must beware of such false green web hosting companies.

I think that is a good attempt to protect our word from such companies. But in the real life you need to know that web hosting stability is something very important for you.
So if there is no sunny days. Would you agree with downtime?

Down time is never an option!

i think most of them create a green website.
It is all in the presentation to create a green image.

Not necessarily. I choose the color green for our website design because it is literally the easiest color on the eye. It is also a very calming and relaxing color.

Green hosting is a marketing trick.