These days, more and more of us are conscious about the impact our business -and our lifestyle- has on the environment around us. With experts warning us about the effects of climate change and governments encouraging us all to take a more pro-active approach to preserving the planet, opting for green web hosting when starting a new website -or even transferring our existing one- can really be a smart move.
After all, if your customers are looking for environmentally-friendly services and products, doesn’t it make sense that you’re the one to provide it, whilst at the same time making sure you’re doing all you can to meet the government’s green agenda?
Whether you’ve heard of green hosting in the past but aren’t sure how it can benefit your business, or even if the first time you heard of the term was when you stumbled across this article, here’s everything you need to do know about why it matters to your business.
What actually is green web hosting?
In order to keep your website running twenty four hours a day, seven days a week, the website server that hosts it needs to be constantly running, and of course, that takes up a good amount of energy. Many of the best web hosting companies use vast data centers full of row after row of huge web servers, all consuming the kind of energy that most of us more used to the small amounts we use at home would find hard to fathom.
If all that energy is sourced from non-renewable fuels like coal or gas, that’s not exactly having a positive impact on our environment.
Thankfully, there is a better solution.
Green web hosts negate this damaging impact by using renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power to drive their services.
How does it work?
Along with using renewable energy sources wherever possible, there are some instances where even the greenest of web hosts may need to use a small amount of non-renewable energy for certain things.
To offset the impact of this, they purchase Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), the proceeds of which are invested into projects aimed at protecting our environment, such as combating pollution or planting trees.
All in all, this goes a long way to ensuring that you’re playing a small part in looking after the planet, just through making a smart choice with your web hosting.
Why does it matter?
Think about how many websites are currently online, and how many continue to appear on a daily basis. Now think of just how much energy it must be taking to keep their web servers running 24/7. In all likelihood, it’s a bigger amount than any of us could really imagine.
Yet by going green, your website doesn’t have to contribute to the problem. Rather, it could be adding to the solution.
As we said earlier, not only is doing your bit for the greater good generally a good idea, it could also do much to attract new customers.
Green web hosting companies
As increasing numbers of customers like you start to look out for green hosting, there’s a number of leading companies out there serving up just that. Whether eco-friendly hosting is their value proposition, such as with the likes of Eco Hosting, FatCow and HostPapa, or whether it’s a major big brand name like iPage and HostGator, you’ve got plenty of options at your disposal when it comes to finding a green provider.
If you’re not sure if the host you’re thinking of signing up to uses renewable energy, a quick search on Google with the name of the company and “green credentials” should reveal everything you need to know.