It’s been reported that energy consumption via expanding worldwide Internet use is growing faster than the airline industry – which is alarming, due to its growing contribution to consumption of fossil fuels.

When choosing a hosting provider for your Website, there are a multitude of hosting providers that provide their hosting service with renewable energies – at competitive prices.

The Research, The Lowdown
In early 2010, AboutFace Marketing moved its Website away from GoDaddy – where the site’s been housed since inception of the company – over to Canvas Dreams (http://www.canvasdreams.com). However, it wasn’t just as smooth as that!

Since we’re really focused on educating about marketing green with our clients, we obviously wanted to make sure we did an adequate amount of research so a) we didn’t get greenwashed, and b) we would know who we could recommend to clients moving forward, since we’re often involved in the decision about where to host the Website for a small or medium company.

Though we absolutely LOVE GoDaddy – their product is very reasonably priced, and their customer service is awesome – just seeing those statistics regarding Internet power consumption worldwide and its exponential growth was enough to open our eyes to research about sustainably powered hosting providers. During our research, we couldn’t find anything in regards to GoDaddy focusing on energy efficiencies, or anything on that topic… so we were forced to start looking elsewhere.

Here’s what we found: Green hosting claims are everywhere!!! We found a huge variety, from inexpensive to incredibly outrageous in price (particularly for the smaller or even medium business). There are actually some Websites that have become prominent in specifically reviewing “green” hosting providers; since they seem to be the resources used by most of the reviews we saw, we based a lot of our more extensive research on the information they provide. These included Green Hosting Reviews (http://www.greenhostingreviews.com/); Eco-Host Reviews (http://ecohostreviews.com/); Web Hosting Geeks (http://webhostinggeeks.com/greenwebhosting.html), and a growing stampede of others.

We initially did our research in mid-2009, then followed up with more detailed research in December 2009; however, in the mere 3 months between then and as we’re writing , the field has exploded, and there’s quite the mix and a LOT of noise about the different types of “green Web hosting,” seemingly everywhere! So, we’ll update this page as we see new information, but if you choose to do your own research, too, here’s a little clarification on what the terms you’ll see on reviewing Websites as well as on the hosting provider Websites themselves, and what they mean (or potentially mean):

• Offsetting energy usage. This is where the vast majority of “green” hosting providers actually fall. The theory goes like this: The company purchases “carbon credits,” which essentially means that they have calculated their total energy usage and purchased a credit for the greenhouse gasses to which they’ve contributed. Usually this means they are purchasing green energy and putting it into the energy grid. It could also mean that they have contributed to a program that is supposed to have “scrubbed” the atmosphere of the amount of CO2 the host put in.Important note: This does not mean the servers are powered by wind, solar, etc. This means the energy could have come from anywhere, and the host has made the effort to neutralize their carbon footprint.

• Powered by sustainable/renewable energy. You really have to read the fine print to find out how the company is powered by sustainable energy. A lot of hosting providers say they’re powered by sustainable energy (or they have graphics in their advertising depicting it); yet what they mean is that they do offset their power use by purchasing carbon credits or spending a certain amount of sustainable activity elsewhere. We’ll cover that later; however, when the hosting provider says powered by sustainable energy, look more closely to see if you can get the details on how that is.Renewable energy is energy that is generated from natural sources that does not produce any significant amount of pollution through either production, generation or maintenance. Simply put, it is wind power, hydroelectric, photovoltaic (solar), biomass, geothermal, or biofuel.

All in all, you have to decide what you feel is “green enough.” However, don’t just take the media’s word for it (even the review sites we mentioned or other “certified” resources you see that review the same); we just want you to make sure you’re educated enough to understand the marketing lingo used by a lot of companies, so you can make an informed decision of your own!

Also, don’t forget what’s important besides the “green” part of the hosting provider: customer service, server uptime/reliability, and value for the cost. We don’t always look for the least expensive deal; when you balance everything out, what’s most important should be value. Because if you spend money on something that doesn’t really work, that’s a waste of $5. If you spend some more on something that is a lot more reliable and you don’t have to worry about it breaking all the time, well, there’s a lot more savings there, isn’t there?

There are actually a quickly growing number of very good “Green” hosting providers; due to our experience coupled with our research, here are our current recommendations:

Canvas Dreams (http://www.canvasdreams.com)

In business since 1998, based in Oregon. They power 100% of their infrastructure with wind power (see their explanation at http://www.canvasdreams.com/sustainability/wind-power.php), and as for their entire work environment, they completely “walk the walk,” with a full explanation of their commitment to sustainability: http://www.canvasdreams.com/sustainability/. Everything we’ve read about the company reinforces their commitment to high ethics and environmental responsibility.

One of their selling points is “no overselling” of hosting bandwidth. That might sound like Greek to many, but basically, here’s the scoop: Most hosting providers have jumped on the bandwagon of “unlimited bandwidth”; however, in reality, that’s not the case. In essence, those providers are all “double-dipping” – there’s a great explanation of it here: http://www.canvasdreams.com/sustainability/no-overselling.php. Canvas Dreams never offers “unlimited” for this purpose; in essence, it’s so your space doesn’t ever get crowded by someone else, and cause you Website to go down.

Their control panel is very intuitive and easy-to-use, and their information database is thorough if you have any questions. However, if you still can’t find what you’re looking for, we’ve had nothing but positive experiences with their customer service. The only VERY minor comment we’d put in here is that though they have 24/7 support, if you call outside of regular working hours, you typically have to leave a message, and it could be several hours before they get back to you. However, that aside, they do everything they can to resolve any problems quickly, and they are friendly, knowledgable, and never treat you like you’re “bothering” them, nor do they “speak down” to you.

This is where AboutFace Marketing currently chooses to host our Websites, and we’ve easily moved several clients over to them, as well. Thus far, they get a gold star in our book!

Cost: $7.50, $15.00, or $25.00/month, depending on your needs (most people will only need the $7.50/month option). A little more than some others, but with all of the benefits listed above, it’s worth the cost!

Fat Cow (http://www.fatcow.com).

This company seems to have taken the hosting world by storm over the past several months – not just the green hosting world! Their Website is lean, funny (many, many puns on the cow world), and easy to follow… not that that makes a good provider, but it’s a start in the general direction. Though we’ve always loved GoDaddy, the biggest complaint we’ve had is that their Website is far too complex and hard to navigate; this is completely the opposite.

The price is unbeatable – $66/years gets you (in theory) almost unlimited capabilities and bandwidth for your Website. They boast purchasing renewable energy certificates via wind power to offset 100% of their power usage. See http://www.fatcow.com/green/index.bml to read about their statement about their green power.

We haven’t personally worked with them, but plan on checking them out a little more extensively. Most reviews we’ve seen are glowing; the one complaint seems to be the occasional downage of Websites (Feel free to comment on your experience with them! ), which could easily be the result of their exploding popularity.

More to come!

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