What is Green Web Hosting? Eco-Friendly Hosting Good or Bad for Website

Last updated on February 25th, 2024 at 04:53 pm

Green web hosting is the most environmentally friendly hosting option available for conscious website owners. Green web hosting uses renewable energy resources such as wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar-powered energy. Many of the large green web hosting companies not only use renewable energy sources but also take steps in making the environment a better place; by planting trees, recycling, composting, and minimizing the disposal of paper waste.

Green web hosting is the most beneficial way for web hosting services to operate using renewable resources that are available all over the world.  When you consider the factors such as saving the environment, reducing the number of harmful chemicals produced from machinery, and using resources that will never run out there are limited (if any) negative effects of the use of green web hosting.

What is Green Web Hosting?

Green web hosting is a way for hosting companies to provide a service without having to worry about a detrimental effect on the environment.  By using resources such as water (hydroelectricity) and wind (wind power), you can achieve the same provision of energy without the detrimental effects of other sources.  Green web hosting uses renewable energy which is gained through natural resources and they are naturally reusable, meaning that they will never run out.

Lowered Operating Cost

The first benefit of green web hosting is the limited amount of funding that a company will have to provide to obtain the energy needed to run its corporation.  Using renewable energy enables the company to avoid having to pay recurring energy bills every month.  Instead of getting their energy from multi-million dollar energy corporations, they can obtain their power from the sun or the wind on their terms. 

Considering that these companies will be saving an abundance of money on energy costs, they can then put the extra funding back into things that will benefit their customers.  Generally, you will find that green web hosting services have less expensive hosting costs because they do not have to worry about paying higher bills every month.

Fewer Illnesses in the World

Although there are an immense amount of objects in the world that create pollution, using eco-friendly hosting means your website will help lower the number of chemicals in the air.  Recent studies have shown that there has been an increased amount of illnesses and human diseases all over the world and that the rise in illness is caused by the toxic environment that we are surrounded by daily. 

By using renewable energy and green web hosting, it is one less area of production that will be pumping those toxic chemicals into the air that we and our families breathe on a day-to-day basis.

As we live our lives we should always be thinking about the carbon footprint that envelops the world.  If we can prevent excessive pollution from electricity, that is one less area of toxic emission that we need to worry about.  Green web hosting is a great way to lower the emissions into the air and considering that the internet is one of the most widely used resources in the world, the more eco-friendly we can make the internet, the better our planet will be. 

Not only does green web hosting have an ecological benefit, but it can also help to lower the operating costs for companies.  The lower the operating costs, the more money they can put into their services and the more that it can benefit the general public.  Green web hosting is the way of the future and it is here to stay.

My Favorite Top3 Green Web Hosting Companies to Consider

Why Your Website Needs Green Hosting

Green hosting has become an industry buzzword in the web hosting world, but why all the fuss?  Is green hosting really saving the planet, and, even if it is, what is the cost, and how does it impact you or your website?

You may be considering getting hosting for the first time or for the millionth time, but with all this environmental “stuff” going on in the past years, why not lend a hand? Why not receive just as good, or arguably better hosting, while helping clean up the environment at the same time? In this article, I will offer 5 tips for you to keep in mind as you balance the planet with your need for hosting with a plethora of features, high uptime, great support, and so on.

1. Does Your Hosting Provider Participate In Green Hosting?

Economics is only part of the equation for business in any industry. Societal implications and their environmental impact are significant issues that merit thought in the decision-making process. Even if you couldn’t care less about green hosting, your clients may. To find out upfront whether your hosting provider is involved in eco-friendly practices.

2. What Does Green Hosting Mean?

Dig in and learn what the hosting providers that you are considering mean when they use the phrase “green hosting.” Green hosting is becoming a ubiquitous term, but it is used broadly and often with ambiguous meanings. One company might mean that they generate all the resources needed for operations by using alternative, renewable energy sources.

Another organization might use green hosting to mean that only the energy powering their servers at any given time is drawn from renewable energy sources. Some hosting providers with questionable ethics might tout their services as green hosting, while only investing in minimal environmentally-friendly infrastructure. These organizations do not have a true grip on the concept of corporate social responsibility, and you will likely want to avoid dealing with them.

3. What Kind Of An Impact Will Your Hosting Needs Have?

Some will argue that our priority should be the environment every time, so regardless of your needs, you should invest in green hosting. I would recommend considering your needs – if you will be powering a single site and using minimal resources, then a significant investment in green hosting technology may not make sense.

Understand the number of servers, the amount of disk space, what kind of bandwidth you will need, etc. There are many hosting companies that not only have 100% green servers and eco-friendly practices within their offices but also have top-notch, extremely high-quality hosting.

4. What Is The Marginal Cost Of Green Hosting?

Does your hosting service provider cost more as a result of their investment in green hosting? There are companies out there that have combined incredible value, tremendous service, and environmentally responsible practices like green hosting. 

The perception is that green hosting would cost more, but examine the numbers and find out for yourself. What is the economic difference when you invest in green hosting? Check it out for yourself or take my word for it: green hosting companies are almost always cheaper than non-green hosting ones.

5. Is It Just A Trend Or Going To Continually Grow?

The green hosting industry is very young and will continue to evolve tremendously shortly. Stay up to date about what is going on and continue to examine the costs and benefits of green hosting. In the environmentally-conscious world that we live in today, it’s all about the small changes we make to contribute to the whole.

If every website owner hosted their site with green hosting, imagine the impact it could make. If no one thinks “their small impact” will matter and no one pitches in, nothing can change for the better. Now you decide to make!

The past decade has been the most demanding for the web hosting industry, especially due to the vast number of new web hosting companies that have started up. For your website to be online at all times; a data center that usually consists of several hundred servers has to be up and running 24/7. The use of a physical facility, cooling equipment, computing equipment, and backup sources all require vast amounts of energy, especially since they are running 24/7 all year round. One of the largest impacts of web hosting is on the environment.

According to a 2006 study, it is estimated that the US web hosting industry consumes two billion dollars worth of energy for powering its equipment, while this figure is in the seven billion dollar mark for worldwide energy consumption. Additionally, if the web hosting industry grows at the current rate, it is estimated that it could reach the consumption level of the airline industry in the US. If you can do your part early on and consider a green web hosting company for your website; are taking this initiative one step closer to success.

Green web hosting is the most environmentally friendly hosting option available for conscious website owners. Green web hosting uses renewable energy resources such as wind energy, hydroelectricity, and solar-powered energy.

Many of the large green web hosting companies not only use renewable energy sources but also take steps in making the environment a better place; by planting trees, recycling, composting, and minimizing the disposal of paper waste. North America’s energy security lies in its coal, oil, and natural gas production, which recently came from the hydraulic fracturing process. However, by using renewable energy sources, you are not only helping the environment but yourself and the community.

The following are some of the ways green hosting companies stay fully green:

• All servers are configured accordingly so that they do not use more energy than they need to. When these servers are set to run efficiently, they will need less energy from the cooling equipment and thus, reducing the total energy consumption on their servers.
• Hosting companies understand the impact of paper waste and they only print documents that really need to be printed. Corporate hosting company offices and data centers are now minimizing the amount of paper they use, which in turn helps the environment.
• Using green energy is the largest contributor when it comes to minimizing the impact on the environment. Wind energy, solar energy, and hydroelectricity are some of the best renewable energy sources used by some of the green web hosting companies in the business. Instead of using energy that is powered by coal, oil, or natural gas, renewable sources offer a cheaper alternative as well.

If your business or organization is energy-conscious, you should consider choosing a green hosting company to get services from. There are a few environmental organizations that are not using green hosting for their website and it is a little ironic if you think about it. Being hosted by a green hosting provider would give your clients and website visitors a good impression of your business as well.