Green Hosting - The Facts
The definition: Green web hosting or Eco-friendly website hosting is anaddition to the arena of website hosting which involves a given green website hosting company showing that they are not having any negative impact on the environment in an attempt to reduce carbon emissions. The two main options for green web hosting are Carbon Neutral and Carbon Free web hosting. The difference is that Carbon Neutral uses a Carbon offsetting system to balance the carbon emissions used to provide the green web hosting while Carbon Free web hosting uses leaves no carbon footprint at all.
The figures: World Internet usage statistics showed figures that the Internet is growing from 400 to 1000% every year, worldwide. The raw fact is that the total electricity bill to operate and run servers and related infrastructure equipment was £5.8 billion worldwide*. In 2007, Internet organisation, WebHostingCompare.org predicted that by 2020 the hosting industry would be on a par with the aviation industry in terms of carbon emissions. Other sources beleive we are a lot closer to that comparison already. Datacentremanagement.com believes data centres contribute the largest single proportion of energy use and carbon emissions from the IT sector. Data centres account for a quarter of IT-related carbon emissions, which in turn make up 2% of the world’s total carbon emissions. With so much demand on resources, eco-friendly or green web hosting services has emerged as a necessity.
*Article: Data Center Energy Consumption Has Doubled Since 2000, dated 2.15.07
The Damage of Data Centres
According to recent reports from Gartner, the 'IT Professional's best first source for addressing virtually any IT issue', data centres account for approximately a quarter of the entire IT industry carbon emissions with PCs and monitors account for 40 per cent of all output.
This figure only further backs up the need for green IT solutions including green hosting and stricter guidelines on how to green up a typical office.
The 25% figure is unfortunately not standing still and the damaging effect of data centres is rapidly rising as virtualisation and growing data processing becomes ever more vital. The World Wide Web, it's online companies, it's hosting and it's information is steadily growing. With the Internet expanding at an alarming rate we can expect that 25% to rise dramatically.
In January 2007, an Internet monitoring company called Netcraft has tracked Web growth since 1995, reported that there were 106,875,138 Web sites with domain names and content on them in 2007, compared to just 18,000 Web sites in August 1995. There are now, in 2009, over 162,000,000 (million) sites and every site has to be hosted and stored and powered 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
"Data centres account for such a large portion of ICT CO2 emissions for three main reasons," said Rakesh Kumar, a research vice president at Gartner.
"There is a lack of floor space, a failure to house high-density servers and increased power consumption and heat generation. These three issues will affect the cost of running a data centres."
It is estimated that microprocessor energy consumption alone will double within the next 10 years. Hardware such as PCs and monitors are making leaps and bounds to cut their energy consumption but data centres are slower on the up take. Iceland is starting to develop something with energy efficient data centres and their is development in greener battery power. Carbon Free hosting centres are needed in mass and are we to reduce IT emission figures, they are needed fast.
Green Hosting in Iceland
Lurking behind all the large internet companies lies huge and never ending data centres full of energy guzzling servers running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The energy used to power the servers themselves is one thing, the system needed to cool them is another Put the 2 together and you end up with one environmentally damaging monstrosity. The solution may lie with Iceland’s cool climate and cold water rush the could help reduce the energy levels needed for cooling. A green hosting centre for websites who want to go green and reduce their carbon footprint.
On a global scale, the Data Centre industry has a genuine need for a cleaner, greener energy solution that not only reduces carbon emissions but reduces cost. Iceland's new announcement of a green data centre to provide green hosting may hold the key. When you consider that distributing 10 megabytes of information uses the energy equivalent of burning 900 grams of coal, a green hosting solution and an environmental data centre is well overdue.
"The data centre industry now is on par with the airline industry as far as the carbon footprint,"
"But, if you think about the growth of those two industries, the growth of the data centre industry is exponentially greater than the airline industry.
"The two are going to cross and we think that - just like the legislation that was passed in the UK concerning carbon footprint and power utilisation - it is going to be a growing concern across the industry."
- Jeff Monroe, CEO of Verne Global
The first site for the green data centre is on the outskirts of Iceland’s capital, Reykjavik. Verne Global is responsible for building this green data centre on a former NATO military base in southwest Iceland next to the Keflavik International Airport.
Energy costs are continuously fluctuating and going up more than down, and data centres consuming a large amount of energy there is a core need in the market for a green innovation solution that reduces energy and offers a green hosting solution.
Iceland’s natural environment and it’s volcanic forces have also gifted the country large amounts of geothermal power - 100% of the country's electricity is renewable and more or less carbon free, much of that green energy comes from water heated below ground.
The advantage of a company moving its data centre to Iceland would be a green hosting and environmentally cleaner solution to data centres and a heavily reduced carbon emissions. The end result is a cooler climate producing an endless supply of green energy. Green Carbon Free hosting for websites, green carbon free servers supplying cleaner energy and a natural resource cooling system. The future of green data centres looks to be Iceland.
China Pledges Cut of 45%
The biggest polluter of greenhouse gas has, for the first time, put a figure on the amount of CO2 emissions it plans to cut by 2020. The superpower, which emits a staggering 6billion tonnes of CO2 per year has made a solid commitment to reduce the climate change gas. The announcement comes a day after the US committed to a cut and could signal more positive results from other countries. With Barak Obama attending the Copenhagen Conference and now China showing it's intentions, their be light at the end of the tunnel after all. Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao said: 'This is a voluntary action taken by the Chinese government based on its own national conditions and is a major contribution to the global effort in tackling climate change.'
Skeptics have said that China's economic growth and predicted emissions will in fact produce more greenhouse gas than it currently does. The optimistic Department of Energy believes this is a positive declaration and has said: 'China's first ever commitment to put a number on the table to reduce the carbon intensity is an important opening contribution ahead of Copenhagen and we are studying it in great detail.' We live in hope that this is a serious step towards a global signing on a green agreement.
To date the three big figures are:
Britain committing to reduce CO2 emissions by 586 million tonnes (34% of 1990 levels) by 2020.
USA committing to cut CO2 emissions 5,903 million tonnes (17% of 1990 levels) by 2020
China committing to cut CO2 emissions by 40-45% (based on 2005 levels) by 2020.
The Green Celebrity
Hollywood is now swarming with A-listers in green cars, eating at vegan restaurants and recycling anything that moves but what effect is this green bandwagon having on the mere mortals of our world?
Climate Change has suddenly become the thing to talk about and stars are looking at every green angle to further their credentials. And when Vanity Fair devotes an entire issue on the green machine, well, Hollywood has truly turned green!
The may issue of Vanity Fair focuses on a "green revolution" that is sweeping across the US and fronting this attack on pollution are a gang of actors, rock stars and business Moguls alike. And heading the list is an unlikely name.
Search for a green star and the one name that continuously pops up is Leonardo DiCaprio. The face of innocence and the perfect poster boy to lead the green revolt. Not far behind are Leo's green supporters in the form of Robert Redford, Cameron Diaz, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jack Johnson and Alanis Morissette. A formidable green team with serious clout on a global front but what are they doing practically and are their endeavours having a positive effect on their fans and the grand scheme of things.
In DiCaprio's case he seems to be focusing on his strengths and narrating short environmental films Global Warning and Water Planet, presented on his eco-activist website, www.leonardodicaprio.org (since 2000); co producing and writing, as well as narrating the documentary 11th Hour a film about the human impact on our planet. A far cry from the man who was accused of polluting the earth more than some small countries mainly with his use of his 6 private jets.
With such a green push and a fantastic platform to expose the green issues and solutions, one would hope that our green celebs and 'green cool' have a positive effect on their multitude of followers. Starting in education from a young age and hopefully turning that into practice can only be a good thing for our environment. So long live the green celebrity and although not all will be as genuine as the next, the word is spreading that is never being cooler to be green.
Climate Change to Kill Us All!
Grabbing the attention of the general public regarding serious long term issues can often be an uphill battle. The green issue, although a hot topic right now, may not be in the fore front of every one's mind. To combat this, 10 High ranking military officials from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the US, not exactly ambassadors for green issues, have released a startling statement. The group, which is a council of military advisers known as the Institute for the Environmental Security based in the Hague, Netherlands, highlighted the current position to global governments leading up to the Copenhagen Conference in December. The message states that if the world fails to act soon on climate change, "preserving security and stability even at current levels will become increasingly difficult". 
