Green Web Hosting Guide
Within the past few years there has been a shift in many companies attitudes towards environmental responsibility. A few years ago it may have been seen as an unnessary extra burden but nowadays it is advertised as a badge of honour to attract the increasingly eco minded consumer.
This is no different in the web industry where having a green powered website can be a great asset to boast about over competitors. Many web hosting companies now offer green hosting which ranges from carbon offsetting of energy usage to services completely run on renewable souces, including all their main offices and data centres.
How Web hosts go green
Purchasing of REC (Renewable Energy Certificates)
This is an easy way for hosting companies to go green where Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) are purchased resulting in extra renewable power being pumped into the grid. Currently a popular way for web hosts to remain green as it is difficult to categorically say that all the power used for the server is directly from renewables. Many Green hosts use this such as Hostpapa, Fatcow and supergreen for their servers.
Increasing Energy Efficientcy
Hosting companies try to increase energy efficiency inhouse from decreasing heating bills and air conditioning to using more energy efficient servers in their data centres which use much less power.
Carbon Offsetting by Planting Trees
Another way green web hosting companies try to offset carbon emissions is to plant new trees. For example, many hosts in the industry plant a new tree with every package sold, so adding to the ecosystem and creating habits for animals as well as offsetting emissions.
Top UK Green Hosts Reviewed
Detailed Green Host Reviews
96%
1.Hostpapa
Hostpapa web hosting has taken the initiative to become 100% green with all its servers and facilities being powered by renewables, which supplements an already great value and reliable hosting package. Further to being environmentally friendly they also possess a great customer service record and feature rich easy to use control panel. All this combined with a great price and free activation make it a clear green hosting number 1.
| Price inc VAT | £2.34 | Features | PHP, MySql, Free Domain for life, |
| Bandwidth/Space | Unlimited/Unlimited | Green Hosting, Wordpress blog, | |
| 30 Day Moneyback, Free Website Builder |
94%
2.iPage
iPage is another web host that has joined the green revolution and is powered by 100% wind energy. It been established since 1998, providing top quality web hosting service for small and medium sized websites at low cost available only a 12 month contract. iPage would be a good entry level for any newbie webmaster or designer.
| Price inc VAT | £2.38 | Features | PHP, MySql, Free Domain, |
| Bandwidth/Space | Unlimited/Unlimited | Green Hosting, Wordpress, |
93%
3.Fatcow
FatCow is probably the most established Green Hosting company around, suitable for small businesses and for personal sites alike. Inlcuded are some great features like One Click Installation of popular cms scripts (Wordpress, Joomla, etc….) which helps to avoid changing databases and code. . This web hosting company has managed to survive in a very competitive industry since 1998, making the right choices in pleasing cleints with an ethos of unique web hosting based on high uptime, ease of use at an afforable rate.
| Price inc VAT | £2.50 | Features | PHP, MySql, Free Domain, |
| Bandwidth/Space | Unlimited/Unlimited | Green Hosting, Money Back Guarantee | |
92%
4.Supergreen hosting
Increasingly it has become a key part of business to be eco aware and initiate green campaigns to gain consumer confidence. This usually comes at a premium but with supergreen hosts it is not only green but financially beneficial because of the affordable price. Their servers are powered by renewables and their tree planting scheme ensures they remain carbon neutral. With many of the features inline with justhost and with unlimited space they can claim to one the best value web hosting around.
| Price inc VAT | £2.95 | Features | PHP, MySql, Free Domain, |
| Bandwidth/Space | Unlimited/Unlimited | Green Hosting, Wordpress, | |
90%
5.1and1
1and1 web hosting is the largest and most established web hosts in the UK and have recently become green by using energy efficient servers and using renewable hydroelectric power. This is coupled with a strong array of feature set such as the recent addition of their pioneering dual hosting technology and detailed marketing tools. Combine this with and easy to use control panel and a vast array of features and it competes with all of the top performers.
| Price inc VAT | £2.99 | Features | PHP, MySql, Free Domain, Dual Hosting, |
| Bandwidth/Space | Unlimited/5GB | Mobile Site, |