What makes a hosting company green?

Every day it seems there is a new hosting company professing to offer green or eco-friendly hosting.

But what is green hosting, really? Green hosting companies may take part in any one or a mixture of some of the following green web hosting company pursuits to justify how they define themselves as a green hosting provider:

• purchase renewable energy credits, green tags or green certificates to offset their use of dirty energy
• purchase energy from clean energy providers
• generates green power for its own use –ie solar panels on the roof of the building, powering their computers with exercycles
• rely on 100% wind or solar or hydro electricity to power their web hosting centers
• operate their business as environmentally friendly as possible — recycling, carpooling, using transit, using energy efficient computers, monitors, lights, servers, etc

We’ve come across a number of hosting companies with “green” in their domain name but yet there is no mention anywhere on their website about what powers their servers or what their committment to the environment really is. When you’re searching for a green host, be sure to clarify what makes the host green, how they verify they’re green, and if they use or partner with any third party service(s) monitor or report their “greenness”.

Here at greenwebsitehost.com we are not a hosting provider, but rather an online resource to help you find good green hosting companies. We are committed to helping our environment by providing this service. We also seek to make our offfice as environmentally friendly as possible by using using energy star rated appliances and CFL bulbs in lights, turning off lights and computers (workstations), through recycling, carpooling and telecommuting, using post consumer recycled materials, avoiding the use of any paper-based promotional materials or advertising. We’d like our website host bluehost.com to increase their committment to the environment. At present their stance is that they’re wary of greenwashing, of hosting companies getting on the green bandwagon as a marketing ploy and “not in a position to do “Green Hosting” at this time”. Read bluehost’s ceo’s comments about green web hosting and greenwashing. What’s your take on greenwashing?

Do you think we should move to a purely green host, or is taking other action as described above a sufficient effort? Do you think it’s realistic for companies to all choose green hosting, or is the effort to change hosts simply not worth the benefit? Is it best to strive to build green thinking into the core of a business and decisions it makes in staffing, transportation, purchasing, etc?