Green Web Hosting Review
All around the world, businesses in various different industries have put together a lot of effort to “go green” and to do whatever they can to reduce the damage that their operations could have on our environment. When we think of protecting the environment, many of us would think about using home appliances that are more energy efficient or cars that use less fuel, in addition to making changes in our daily routines such as recycling more and avoiding excessive waste production. With the growth of the internet, many IT experts have noticed that they too can play a large part in helping out our environment.
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While many people don’t think about it, whenever you visit a website, the content that is displayed on your computer has to be read from a remote source somewhere. It doesn’t magically generate and teleport itself to your computer. The servers that are used to host websites are machines, just like your home computer that require the use of electricity in order to run.
While it is true that a single server doesn’t consume much power, most web hosting companies have a complete data center that houses dozens and even hundreds of servers. A web host also needs to use network equipment, temperature control machinery, and security and access control systems. All of these devices combined to use a large amount of power, which would be enough to power hundreds of typical households. Out of concern for the impact they have on the environment, a lot of web hosting businesses have started to adopt a “green” business model. This is why you will see a lot more web hosts advertising that they use clean power to run their servers. They are trying to be carbon neutral and more eco friendly.
There are two main ways in which web hosting companies can make a difference. The first one is to reduce their overall electricity consumption. It may seem a bit tricky, as web servers and other equipment cannot simply be turned off, it needs to run at all times in order for the websites that depend on them to stay available. Some companies have replaced their servers with newer models that are more energy efficient. Others have made sure that their data center is set up in a way that requires as little cooling equipment as possible.
In their offices, many web hosts have put together policies that reduce the amount of paper being used. Thanks to today’s online world, paper documents are becoming less and less used, save for some legal documents that require a hard copy to be kept.
There have been a few green web hosting companies that have even gone as far as installing solar panels and wind turbines. However, this remains a rarity due to costs and the fact that the power supplied by these devices could sometimes be insufficient or unreliable. Many green web hosting firms have instead resorted to purchasing renewable energy credits. These credits means that for every unit of energy used by the web host, the power company will produce one unit of power by using renewable sources, like wind power or solar power.
For a top rated green web hosting company, check out Hostgator. 
This site is hosted on their green energy efficient servers.
