Mar 08, 2021 02:09 PM EST By Ernest Hamilton, UniversityHerald Reporter

The internet is a significant planet pollutant. Every second spent browsing a simple website produces an estimated 20 milligrams of carbon dioxide. If the website is more complex, it can produce up to 300 milligrams of carbon dioxide per second. When you consider that there are more than 3.5 billion internet users around the world, it's easy to see why the internet is a problem for the environment. So, as eco-conscious people, what can we do?

Every website on the internet is housed on a server in a data center that powers all the videos, applications, and web pages we access. At the moment, there are over 70 million servers worldwide, with each one needing electricity to keep it powered up and to keep it from overheating. As a result, the annual amount of carbon produced by the internet is about the same as that created by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines, Mongolia, and Sri Lanka combined. However, by using green hosting, we can help reduce the amount of carbon produced.

What is Green Web Hosting?

The purpose of green web hosting companies is to provide high-quality services while reducing these services' carbon footprint. A typical approach to green web hosting is to produce a similar or greater amount of energy than what the hosting company is consuming and return that energy to the grid. Companies generate energy using renewable power technologies such as solar and wind. Alternatively, companies like Green Geeks will purchase green tags from green energy suppliers. The green energy supplier will add a prescribed amount of energy to the grid for each tag purchased. As a result, the web hosting company offsets their energy consumption without generating the power themselves.

Benefits of Green Web Hosting

The main benefit of green web hosting is that it gets your website online in an environmentally considerate way. Whether your hosting company is contributing power back into the grid or actively working to counteract their carbon footprint, by choosing a green web hosting company, you're being environmentally responsible. This means that your customers can feel good about visiting your website as they will know that in doing so, they're doing something positive for the environment.

How To Identify a Green Web Host

If a web host does any of the following, then they can be considered a green web host, and you can feel good about using their services.

• They Are REC or VER Certified

Green web hosting certifications come in two forms. Hosting companies can get a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) or a Carbon Offest Certificate (VER).

RECs are also known as green tags, and they demonstrate that a full one megawatt-hour of electricity has been created from a renewable energy source and then put into the electricity grid. As a result, the power that the web hosting company uses is replaced by a renewable energy source.

VERs allows hosting companies to invest in environmental projects worldwide to balance out their carbon footprints.

• They Use Energy-Efficient Software

Energy-efficient software decides how efficiently hardware components will consume energy. If you use a smart software application, it will offer efficient power saver modes, and use best practices like deduplication, storage tiering, and data compression. These practices help conserve space on storage devices. Deduplication eliminates irrelevant copies of files, and storage tiering migrate older, less-used content to low-performance drives. Data compression reduces the amount of data stored so that less traffic is transmitted. As a result, less energy is required to power these devices. 

• They Have Energy-Efficient Data Centers and Hardware

A Solid State Drive (SSD) is known to consume less power than a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). You can also use better DC voltage regulators and effective power-saving technologies.

When it comes to cooling, you can use power-efficient Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) fan units with varying speeds. Additionally, since server loads fluctuate all the time, if you use a Variable Speed Drive (VSD), this will go a long way towards conserving energy.

• They Support Climate Change Initiatives

The best green web hosts adopt a green technology philosophy and support programs dedicated to the climate change cause. By supporting, organizations like Carbonfund.org and Bonneville web hosts are going the extra mile to preserve the planet.

Conclusion

There are undoubtedly a number of web hosts out there claiming to be environmentally friendly. Therefore, it's up to you to research to make sure that you choose a legitimately green host and not just pretending for marketing purposes.

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