Green Websites??? Green Servers???
I am in a class yesterday some what bored by the simplicity of the course, when I hear the instructor mention something about a “Green Server”. My ears perked up…
“… this server option is considered green. Versus your traditional server options, a shared hosting plan or shared server leaves less of a carbon footprint and for many of us that are in this industry the greener the better.”
Rewind… “A Shared server is considered green?”
So like a good student I did my research on Green Servers, Green Hosting and Green Websites. Here is what I found:
Garner Research – http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=503867
According to Garner the IT industry is responsible for 2% of energy consumption worldwide. Some have said this is nearly as much if not more then the aviation industry, but I could not confirm that rumor. Further Garner is including much more then just PCs and servers in this equation.
Gartner’s estimate of the 2 percent of global CO2 emissions that ICT is responsible for includes the in-use phase of PCs, servers, cooling, fixed and mobile telephony, local area network (LAN), office telecommunications and printers. Gartner has also included an estimate of the embodied (that used in design, manufacture and distribution) energy in large-volume devices, namely PCs and cell phones. It also included all commercial and governmental IT and telecommunications infrastructure worldwide, but not consumer electronics other than cell phones and PCs.
This information sounds great if you want to point fingers and pass blame onto the IT industry for adding to the carbon footprint, but what about the benefits that IT is providing? And streching this all the way out to telecommunications and government infrastructure???
I did find some useful information on how to be a little greener. Here are a few tips on a “Greener Server”:
1- Newer equipment is considered more energy efficient, and therefore green. FYI, Dell is coming out with servers that are designed to be energy conservative.
2- Cooling. Servers require cooling measures. Fans, A/C, ventilation, etc. Perhaps your floor fans are overkill or just placed ineffectively to optimize the cooling capacity.
3- Hosting on your own separate server/ dedicated server may give you more features, options, and speed, but like the Dodge Viper that out performs your smart car, your Dodge Viper only gets 8 MPG. (i.e. your performance comes at a cost that may not be worth the extra performance.) Shouldn’t everyone be content with a GEO Metro? … Of course, I would be tempted to take a Dodge Viper if you gave it to me.
4-Websites. Not only should you consider the servers you are hosting them on but the computers that are visiting your websites…??? Sorry this is according the the ECOfriendly approved site stamp. Essentially the best ways to have an ecofriendly website is to control the number of visitors to your site and to limit the size of your website. So just consider all the waste that one or two extra images could add up to on your site.
GOOD NEWS FOR BLOGPESTCONTROL.com !!!
Our servers are hosted and since we are running a blog the website is much more efficient and smaller! We qualify for a green website and green hosting!… My life is now complete.
Bulwark’s Pest Control, Green and Getting Greener.
FYI, This article does not give enough credit to the thousands of trees that we are saving by going digital, which should offset the 2% of consumption as trees saved should equal more CO2 eaters. Unfortuntely I don’t have the time or energy to spend quantifying the total offset… sorry, just conserving some of my own energy and putting it to better use.
TIP# 5
In red, because its the most important… It’s estimated that 2/3 of PC use is waste, WHY? Because people don’t turn them off. So if you really want to help and be green then TURN OFF YOUR PC.
Thanks.
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