What Green Web Hosting Offers To Online Business Owners

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Editor’s note: This is a good way for anyone with a website (who doesn’t have one these days?) to green her or his business. It’s something I’ve incorporated on my own sites, and something we are pursuing here at Important Media. This post was actually financially supported by a sponsor, but it’s one about an important green topic that I think needs more awareness, which is why it’s on CleanTechnica.

There are several online business owners who wonder if they can do anything besides their offline environmental friendly activities to reduce their carbon footprint. If you’re one of them and have been looking for ways to contribute to the environment without sacrificing your business, green web hosting is a viable option available to you.

Image Credit: Green .com via Shutterstock
Image Credit: Green .com via Shutterstock

The solution is similar to what a typical hosting provider offers you, but the hosting plan/server where your data, content, php, scripts etc. are saved is powered by energy that comes from renewable sources. This means whether you choose to purchase a dedicated server, cloud server, or any other server plan when choosing the option, the electricity used to power those serves will come from energy generated from renewable sources.

How Green Web Hosting Affects the Environment

As mentioned before, being ‘environment friendly’ is a key attraction of a green web hosting plan. A website has to be online around the clock, which means the servers used to power them also have to run continuously. The heat and emissions caused by the continuous running is quite dangerous.

Green web hosting, on the other hand, has been designed by keeping the notion of efficiency in mind. Most of the companies offering this hosting solution usually generate their own energy to power the servers, but those who’re unable to do so because of lack of resources opt for Renewable Energy Certificates, which allows them to hypothetically “use the energy that has been generated from renewable sources to power their servers.”

Generally speaking, owning or purchasing renewable energy directly is better (e.g. the web hosts making use of wind energy and onsite solar power for their data centers.). But RECs also help to green a web host, and thus you and your business.

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Benefits for choosing a green web hosting plan include:

1. Business Benefits

Apart from allowing you to make an individual contribution to save the environment, green hosting plans are going to increase the reputation of your online business and possibly attract more customers. Let your customers know that your company is trying to be eco-friendly and one of the major steps taken is to switch from a conventional web host to a green web host.

This is going to boost the reputation of your business and increase its social acceptance, and existing customers may recommend your business to their friends, family, and acquaintances as a good option that’s trying to care for the environment. You can also use the “going green” web hosting practice in your marketing strategy.

2. Can Save on Costs through Other Benefits

You can search for environmental bodies or NGOs in your area that may actually offer rebates or other incentives for going green. Let them know that you’re making an effort by choosing a green hosting provider. They may share the costs, and the sharing ratio may be high if you’re a startup.

Final Verdict

Embracing a green web hosting solution is a good option to leave an eco-friendly mark on the economy and create a business image that leaves a positive impact on customers. The increased trust and reputation is going to lead to conversions and loyalty in the long run.


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