innerbridge goes with green hosting

A hosting solution should be affordable and it should be reliable. A vendor must support all the software you need, such as a Web server, a mail system, blog software, and associated databases and scripting languages. But what about hosting and "going green"? For anyone who runs a data center -- or even a room full of servers -- the issue of energy efficiency is important. It takes energy to run the servers, the HVAC system that dissipates the heat, and the related electronics, such routers, monitors, drive arrays, and UPS systems. For many organizations these days, being green -- in this case, energy efficient -- is more about the bottom line than hugging trees. It's about reducing costs first; saving the planet -- or claiming to -- comes in second place.

So what about companies that simply need outsourced hosting and other services and want an affordable, energy-efficient or green solution? The good news is that -- as in many industries -- green has become a way to differentiate and market technology products and services. That means there are now many vendors to choose from. The bad news is that it's often hard to tell if being green is actually the best course of action, and it's hard to tell if vendors are really green or just claiming to be. For example, some recycled paper products can be worse for the environment because of the process needed to clean the used material, while non-recyclable products may come from carefully maintained forests (where trees are planted as others are cut down). And in terms of the latter concern, like any marketing tool, the green label can be abused by companies hoping to attract new customers (i.e., they claim to be green but aren't really doing much).

The issue of green hosting came up at innerbridge as a result of problems with our initial hosting provider -- a large company that starts with a "Y" and ends with "!" With constant email problems that could not be ironed out, and with no native support for the latest-generation of our favorite blogging software, Movable Type, we thought it was time to make a move.

The idea of making the switch to a green hosting company was appealing. While we aren't chaining ourselves to Redwoods to save Spotted Owls, we prefer to "go green" whenever it makes business sense. Like anyone in our situation, our top needs are:

After whittling down a spreadsheet of green hosting companies to a short list, we identified our No. 1 choice: Affordable Internet Services Online (AISO). What was compelling on the green side of the equation (we had separate testing/review criteria for the technical side of the equation)? It is a 100% solar-powered Web hosting company. 

Why is this important? In the process of searching for hosts, we found a number of potential service providers that were doing their best to position themselves as "carbon neutral" or green, but their green solutions were not always that compelling. For example, many claim the green mantle because they buy carbon credits/offsets or they buy green energy -- energy from a utility that says it was created by renewable sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, or other power sources (this blog entry over at Hostjury discusses AISO as well as the issue of green hosting in general). The fact that some hosting companies buy carbon credits or purchase green energy is OK, but without opening a contentious political discussion about the merits of that approach, let's just say that we prefer eliminating middlemen -- we prefer our green energy to come straight from a green source if possible.

On a final note, we don't just care about solar-powered hosting because it's green. We are technology optimists, and we believe that revolutionary technology products and services will become commonplace if organizations and consumers invest in them -- even if they cost a few dollars (but not too many) more than a competitive product. Our hosting choice is obviously a drop in the bucket in terms of shifting business to green service providers, but if more companies put "green" as a check item on their technology and services list, it will only drive investment in alternative energy and creative new technology offerings.