Green Hosting

[HostBriefer G]

Does anyone know of Web hosting companies that use any clean, renewable energy sources (Green Hosting) to power their data centers? Like solar power, wind power?
I know the question is a long shot here, but if anyone knows I'd like to know for a news article that we're doing.
thanks

[Mxhub]

I don't think they are appropiate to run a datacenter. You are hosting mission critical website and solar/wind power can't help much as they depend on the sun and strength of the wind.

[GdiFunk]

Actually, there are parts of a data center that can utilize natural energy sources.
Canada Web Hosting, for example, in Toronto uses a Deep Lake Cooling system to keep their data center servers cool. The system uses natural, permanently cold water from Lake Ontario to power their HVACs. It cuts down a lot on electricity and mainte***** costs.
g

[ethical]

Just to clarify, the bulk of hosts that say they use renewable power to power their data centers are actually buying that power as green tags or renewable energy credits to offset their equivalent energy use. This helps to promote and build more sustainable renewable enegry projects in North America. This is what I do along with other social initiatives.

Cheers

[HostBriefer G]

Thanks.
Some useful info indeed...

[MattGe]

I heard that in Iceland there is a data-centers working from wind-power stations..

[zerodowntime]

It seems that this is an issue that will grow in importance as more users become aware that their activities can help to make a difference to the global warming debate. A number of hosting companies are considering "green" strategies right now, and Rackspace have already begun to plant trees to offset their carbon emissions. Rackspace also have a policy of improving their energy efficiency, which is another key way to become more carbon neutral. This is an area that can only become more critical as fossil fuel use rises around the world, and use of the Internet and data centres does cause carbon emissions.

[zerodowntime]

I see that there was an interesting article published on the Information Age website. You can find it there under the title of Right on?

[kiamori]

You can buy green energy from your power company, also a combination of water, wind and solar is probably going to be more reliable than grid power.

some neat info to lookinto for this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_power or if you don't like wiki stuff look at http://www.treehugger.com/files/2005...wer_alte_1.php

[alemcherry]

Here is an interesting article on tophost itself

http://www.tophosts.com/articles/003127.html