Green hosting providers compared

by Christopher Prüfer Web hosting expert

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Environmental protection and sustainability are two important issues humanity has been dealing with for generations. Especially in the digital age these concepts have not lost their significance; if anything, they are more important than ever. Climate-neutral green hosting can make a valuable contribution to protecting the environment sustainably.

While in the mid-1990s having a home computer with an internet connection was still unusual, browsing the internet with a click is now part of everyday life, just like the morning commute. Worldwide there are now over 240 million domains available to serve more than 2 billion internet users. As these require a corresponding technical infrastructure of data centres, it is hardly surprising that this results in a considerable amount of CO2 emissions. Operating a data centre is very energy-intensive. Not only the servers themselves, but the entire infrastructure of the data centre, such as backup generators and air conditioning systems, must be available around the clock. According to the German Federal Association for Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), there are currently over 50,000 data centres in Germany that together consume 9.1 TWh of electricity, which corresponds to the consumption of approximately 2.6 million households. The green hosting providers in our comparison aim to reduce CO2 emissions for the benefit of the environment.

What is Green Hosting

The term green hosting does not only mean the use of green electricity, but denotes a comprehensive sustainable corporate philosophy. Providers of green hosting, on the one hand, refrain from using the typically cheaper nuclear or coal power and instead rely on energy suppliers whose electricity is generated from renewable sources. Hydropower plants and wind turbines are mainly used to generate "green electricity". These alternative energy sources can be used without producing CO2 emissions and do not consume fossil fuels. In addition to the conscious and responsible use of resources, there are further ways for green hosting providers to operate their data centres in an ecological and environmentally friendly manner. Thus not only energy generation plays a role, but also energy-efficient infrastructures and operational processes within the company. Some of the green hosting providers in our comparison also participate in additional measures to neutralise CO2 in the atmosphere, such as tree-planting programmes, or focus on collaborating with 100% environmentally responsible partners.

In summary, green hosting stands for:

• Use of natural resources to generate electricity
• Reduction of CO2 emissions
• Energy-efficient operation of the technical infrastructure
• Implementation of energy-saving concepts to keep the web hosting costs low
• Best web hosting for environmentally conscious customers

Development of green hosting

Green hosting was offered by only a few providers for a long time. In recent years the topic has undergone rapid development. Not only the largest web hosts in Germany have increasingly focused on sustainability. Prospective customers now have a wide range of offers available, from simple webspace to professional Business hosting, that carry the label "green hosting". The reason for this is, on the one hand, that more and more customers, in view of the global situation, are considering environmental protection and place value on being able to contribute by choosing a sustainable and environmentally friendly hosting provider. On the other hand, green hosting has grown from a small niche for environmentally conscious customers into a large, global trend. Many providers are following the trend and now offer green hosting themselves. This makes it increasingly difficult for customers to keep track of the various quality seals and offers. Our comparison of green hosting providers can help you with that.

What makes a hosting provider a green host?

Hosting providers have various options available to implement green hosting:

• Use of renewable energy to supply electricity
• Working with electricity generators that meet numerous environmental criteria and requirements supports the ongoing expansion of electricity generation from renewable resources and contributes to CO2 reduction and a cleaner environment.
• Technical infrastructure
• By using energy‑efficient equipment for data centre infrastructure, electricity consumption can be significantly reduced. For example, ventilation can rely on the highly efficient free cooling method, which uses both outside air and exhaust air for cooling. The additional use of fans with EC technology achieves higher efficiency than conventional systems.
• Data centre design
• A specific design for efficient cooling in data centres is the cold‑and‑hot aisle principle. Cold aisles, where server fronts face each other, alternate with hot aisles, where servers are arranged back‑to‑back, allowing separation of cold and hot air flows so they can be cooled more effectively.
• Energy‑efficient hardware
• Using modern, energy‑efficient hardware with power‑saving processors and efficient power supplies offers significant advantages in energy efficiency compared with older server technology. In addition, the manufacture of these hardware components avoids the use of toxic substances.
• Virtualisation
• Even when idle, a server system uses over 75% of its energy requirement. Virtualisation makes it possible to run multiple servers on a single physical host. As a result, fewer physical servers are required while delivering the same performance. Existing servers are utilised more fully, significantly increasing their energy efficiency.
• Innovative ideas
• Additional innovative measures, such as utilising waste heat, can lead to greater energy efficiency. For example, the very warm air produced by servers can be used to heat other rooms.

Webmasters and Green Hosting

Providers of Green hosting often offer their customers specific logos or banners that can be integrated into the website. These are usually quality seals or badges bearing inscriptions such as "climate-neutral hosting" or "green-energy web hosting". Such measures are noticed favourably by environmentally conscious website visitors. A favourable impression, in turn, generally leads to services offered on the website — for example, online shop hosting — being adopted more frequently. This way, not only the environment benefits, but the site operator also profits from Green hosting.

Conclusion

If you would like to take part in the "Green hosting" initiative with one of your websites, you can choose the offer of one of the web hosting providers from our comparison. Responsible use of resources and efficient energy utilisation is a challenge that everyone should address with the means available. Green hosting allows you to make a clear commitment to environmental protection. In the list above you will find an overview of Green hosting providers.

If you want to learn more about web hosting, also see the Web hosting 101 guide on our website.