Green web hosting companies are popping up left, right, and center. As the world becomes more eco-savvy, web hosting companies want a slice of that market pie. And so, the dawn of green web hosting companies is upon us.
What Makes A Web Hosting Company Green Eco-Friendly?
Well, that is an excellent question. How the heck can a web hosting company be considered “green?” The measure by which green hosting companies are judged is how a hosting company powers up. Now, let's get onto the good stuff. Here are five different eco-friendly web hosting, green, earth-friendly, web hosting companies.
1) Eco-Friendly: Dreamhost
This shared hosting site practices all kinds of resource conservation tactics. This includes the company's purchase of Renewable Energy Credits. These are tax credits issued by the U.S. Government that can be used to install green energy methods, like solar panels.
2) Eco-Friendly: AISO
AISO is a company that generates their own power from renewable energy. This company is powered 100% by solar energy, so you can feel really good about hosting with AISO. 120 solar panels keep this company going!
3) Eco-Friendly: Green Web Host
This company goes a bit above the rest. Green Web Host offers tree-planting in the name of customers, they have solar powered offices, and they boast never using a piece of paper. If you want to go green all the way (and have a tree planted while doing it), Green Web Host is the way to go.
4) Eco-Friendly: Acorn
Acorn only offers free software for hosts, which cuts back on paper usage. This might be a small step, but it's a step in the right direction, at least!
5) Eco-Friendly: Elfon
Elfon is a company that's completely wind-powered. Instead of using solar energy, Elfon users wind energy to get its offices moving. How do you choose between wind and solar? Well, that's up to you, but you do have the option thanks to eco-friendly web hosting companies!
How These Companies Rank
Working towards saving the planet is noble. But, it's also important to choose a web hosting company that's actually good. Otherwise, what's the point of signing up for a hosting company, green or otherwise? How do these green crusaders stack up?
Dreamhost tops this list with an 85% customer approval rating. You can set up a Dreamhost account for around $5.95 too, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than most other options. Another option not listed above is GreenGeeks.
GreenGeeks: In a Different Class
GreenGeeks purchases Wind Energy Credits that are put back into the system. Here's how it works: GreenGeeks purchases 3X the amount of wind energy used by their servers. So, if the GreenGeeks servers use 1X of power, 3X energy credits are purchased and put back into the grid. Incidentally, GreenGeeks has also just won the 2012 Top Web Hosting Provider for performance and value — this company is green and great!
Does Green Really Matter?
Want to hear something shocking? The web hosting industry (in 2005) used as much energy to provide power to servers as 14 power plants — that's a lot of energy! As you can see, going green when you choose a web hosting company really does matter.
Now that green web hosting is common, there are a number of different hosting companies to select from. Why go with a company that uses up a football field of power-plant-type energy when you can choose one that's completely green?
