Environmentally Friendly Hosting
- Thread starter Jason76
- Start date
I think the main issue is that many data centers accommodate a ton of different hosts, companies, etc and many offer green / eco solutions that are only a fraction of their total rack space. Overall there's just a lot more standard data centers out there than there are full eco-friendly DCs. That's alright though because every effort, no matter how small, is important for combating climate change. However, there's a lot of things that can be done that are not only more profitable for the DC or host, but also green. An example would be using a virtual server (VPS) instead of a separate dedicated server. Having two dedicated servers (small) ends up having a larger impact on the environment than buying a slightly larger dedicated server & partitioning it correctly to have separate 'servers' with unique IPs. So even a non-green host can become more eco friendly by offering good VPS packages.
Interesting, but how much pro-environment stuff does that do - compared to stuff already done?
I would say it's just a good standard for:
- making money
- green tech
And it's heavily implemented because as servers get better, a VPS or cloud solution definitely is a better fit for most websites and businesses instead of a Dedicated. So it's not so much that it's a conscious effort to save the environment, it's just a perk that a lucrative hosting option is also better for the planet.
It's similar to how solar is obviously an amazing solution, and as we progress with solar tech it's becoming cheaper and more profitable long time to use it. So even the data centers that don't care for the planet will implement more solar tech over time because they want to have more money. I think the biggest thing we can do for the planet is make the green tech cheaper & more of an impact from a money standpoint, so that even the greedy corporations hop on the planet-saving bandwagon.
Unfortunately though, data centers are so large & focused on profits that even with non-green it can take YEARS to pay off their investments. And by then they usually have to invest in new equipment. It's unfortunate, but it's actually quite hard to switch to green tech once you have started off of it because of the life cycle of servers & equipment. It's really going to take a conscious effort in which a company is willing to lose some money for a decade+ to swap entirely to green tech, or the tech itself becoming cheaper and longer lasting - or both. Until then we can just hope that enough companies WANT to be green even if they take a financial hit initially, or governments start forcing companies to make that swap.
Affiliates
