WebIntellects Employee Blog

Now I am all for lessening our impact here on earth. In fact I do my part where I can. I use low-waste water heads to irrigate my landscape and will soon have solar panels to heat my pool and power my house. These are just two examples what I am doing personally. But that is not my point. My point is about host out their that are misleading people online to get them to sign up or purchase service. When I research these host or ask them questions about their “Green” Policies, I am usually disappointed. One of the biggest lies out there right now is the use of green to advertise the source of power for servers. They say they use only renewable power for their servers. Did you know that for every watt of electricity that a server uses, 1-2 watts of electricity are typically required to cool it? It is true. But almost ALL “Green Host” don’t tell you they only are green on powering - not cooling. They do NOT offset the electricity used to power their servers. Did you know that many data centers buy power from providers that already blend with renewable energy? Does that make them Green? Apparently for some host it does.

Another thing I find funny about some of these hard core green host that really push the fluff is the replies you get when you ask about other green options. Do their employees ride bikes to work? How about take the bus? Is the boss driving a Hummer or a Prius? I once saw the comment “We’re not just neutralizing our environmental impact, we’re reversing it!” used by one host. How misleading is that? What are they all driving, eating and wearing? Where do these magic servers come from that are made of rice? What do the large back up generators run on - water? I think that if you are bold enough to say that then you should probably let us know what all your employees do since they are all part of the equation.

I think you will find we all care about the environment. We all want to do our part. I can not think of any host that does not want to limit their impact. But who really monitors these host that call themselves “Green”? Anyone can throw that word on their website when no one is monitoring it or providing guidelines from which they must abide. So be careful. Green means many things and for a lot of host it is just another way to trick people into buying. Don’t expect your dollars to be going to a good cause unless you thoroughly question it. In the end you might actually be putting your dollars with a “Green” host that is actually less green then the many host out there that do not advertise it or try to market it.