Everybody is receptive to the need for us to all reduce energy consumption wherever possible these days, but a lot of the time there is only so much the individual can do and still hope to be making a difference. It is with businesses where the real bulk of change can be made, and it’s legit to ask whether or not a Canadian web hosting provider is a green one nowadays. People in Montreal are as environmentally-minded as anywhere else, and making sure they choose green hosting in Montreal may be a primary interest for them.
The reason that web hosting providers can also be greener has a lot of levels to it, but one of the things people can know is that data centers use a LOT of power. Although there have been real strides in making data centers more efficient, and especially with cooling them more efficiently to save energy. But suffice to say there is plenty a good Canadian web hosting provider can be doing to have less energy-intensive operations, and these days conscientious people are happier if they can know that about the folks hosting their business website in Montreal.
They’ll prefer to have eco-friendly WordPress hosting if it’s possible, and it most certainly is if they are among the thousands of business owners in Canada who have a website built on WordPress. If simplicity and user-friendliness is the name of the game for you then we recommend it. Managed WordPress Hosting is even better if you’re willing to pay a little more but have the peace of mind knowing absolutely everything related to optimizing your website is taken care of. A part of the reason our service is second to none with that is because we have the same eco interests that most of you do.
Along with all of this will be these people’s need to always have that Montreal business website up and open on the information superhighway. We can provide you with the 99% website uptime guarantee you’re looking for, and still be in line with what’s expected for green hosting in Montreal. Our two major data centers in Vancouver and Toronto are optimized as best as possible for lower energy use and we also take other approaches to making sure we qualify as green web hosting.
We will discuss more about eco-friendly WordPress hosting with this blog entry, and while the focus may be on businesses in Montreal the reality is that these type of aims can be had for web hosting anywhere in Canada. Some of what we’ll go over may be surprising to you, and if so we’re happy to make you more aware of how web hosting can be green in the way that other service providers can be too. Switch to green hosting today – call now!
Surprisingly Large
You might be surprised to learn that web hosting is responsible for a staggering 10% of the world’s electricity consumption. Then on top of that it contributes to 2% of CO2 emissions, as those types of CO2 emissions are on par with what’s created by the airline industry. Green hosting in Montreal can also be seen as eco-friendly hosting, and at this point we’ll need to explain a little more about what makes that type of web hosting different from others.
The long and short of it is that it prioritizes environmental sustainability. The hosting provider is taking active steps to reduce their carbon footprint and promote energy efficiency. You might see it as being similar to choosing to power your home with solar panels instead of traditional energy sources. This will apply for eco-friendly WordPress hosting in the same way, and the biggest part of the focus is to reduce the reliance on energy-intensive data centers that contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
A Canadian web hosting provider that qualifies as a ‘green’ one will use renewable energy sources, as well as establishing energy-efficient practices in their operations. Some of them may invest in carbon offset projects, and every lit bit is helpful in making it so that there is less of the contribution to emissions we talked about earlier. It’s most ideal if they can find means of making use of renewable energy, and if it’s possible for web hosts serving big cities in Quebec to power their data centers with renewable energy sources like wind, solar, or hydroelectric power then that is going to best.
Advanced cooling systems and energy-saving hardware can also better promote energy efficiency, and some green hosts will make investments into renewable energy or other initiatives that contribute to neutralize their carbon emissions in a small but still valuable way. One thing that we’re seeing more of is using solar panels to generate a significant portion of the energy needed to run large web hosting servers. Then there’s the advanced cooling technologies we talked about at the start of this blog entry.
They reduce the amount of energy required to keep the servers at optimal temperatures, and this is very different from traditional hosting. It may be hard to understand for some people, but there is heavy reliance on fossil fuels to power data centers with traditional web hosting. Consuming a massive amount of energy is inevitable if that is how data centers are being powered, and then there’s also the way that inefficient cooling systems and outdated hardware lead to even poorer energy efficiency. More greenhouse gas emissions occur for this reason, and this contributes to climate change. Some data centers are experimenting with immersion cooling where servers are submerged in a liquid coolant to reduce energy consumption. The use of hydrogen fuel cells as a clean and efficient energy source is another positive development related to this.
Internet’s Carbon Footprint
This is all part of a larger issue, and that’s the fact that the Internet itself has a substantial carbon footprint. Every webpage loaded, email sent, or video streamed is going to be requiring energy. The cumulative effect of all of this is quite large, and then the infrastructure required to support the internet needs to be considered too - data centers, servers, and networks. Traditional data centers are known for high energy consumption and inefficiency, and with green hosting in Montreal the focus is on trying to counter that.
Data centers house the servers that store and process all the data we access online. But they're also one of the biggest contributors to the internet's carbon footprint. The way demand for data center capacity is skyrocketing is resulting in even greater energy consumption and emissions, and the hope is that efforts to create sustainability in tech will lend themselves to reducing energy consumption caused by web hosting.
Finding and going with eco-friendly WordPress hosting has a lot of benefits, and individual customers can take pride in the fact that there website is a part of a positive trend if they have a green hosting provider. By reducing the carbon footprint of your website, you're contributing to a more sustainable future. This is especially important given the scale of the internet's energy consumption and the pressing need for us to address climate change and be accountable for the role we’ve played in it.
There are potential economic benefits to all of this too, and especially if the host is able to offer competitive pricing while still being able to have less power-consumptive operations as a web host. As the demand for sustainable services grows, green hosting is becoming increasingly cost-effective and as you’d expect there are savings that are then passed down to the customer, which may make VPS and dedicated hosting options less expensive for people who need more for their website.
Choosing a Green Host
Here are the factors you can consider when choosing green hosting in Montreal:
- Sourced renewable energy - look for hosts that use renewable energy sources to power their data centers
- Energy efficiency - Check if the host implements energy-efficient practices, with advanced cooling systems and energy-saving hardware as examples
- Carbon offsetting - See if the host invests in carbon offset projects to neutralize their emissions. This can be a good indicator of their commitment to sustainability
- Certifications - look for certifications from recognized environmental organizations. These can provide assurance that the host is genuinely committed to green practices
Bonus points if a web host participates in other eco-friendly initiatives, like waste reduction or community outreach. These can be seen as indicators of a commitment to green practices and reducing the environmental footprint of web hosting.
If you’re going to make the switch to one then you should also be looking for eco-friendly WordPress hosting that has a seamless migration services that make the transition smooth and hassle-free. Backing up your website data to ensure a smooth transition is a good idea, and you may want to run a diagnostic test on your website as soon as you’re set up with the new provider.
The last thing we’ll mention about environmentally friendly web hosting is the positive role that Edge computing is playing in the move to making web hosting servers less energy intensive. It’s a subject that we can’t go over in the entirety here, but to go over it briefly one part of Edge computing involves processing data closer to where it's generated. This can reduce the need for large, centralized data centers and potentially lower the overall energy consumption of the Internet.
The most powerful driver of green web hosting is going to be consumer demand. People tend to have more awareness of environmental issues now, and so greater numbers of consumers are looking for sustainable products and services. The service that we provide as web hosts is no exception, and providers like us who are receptive to the trend and believe in it will benefit by aligning themselves with the priorities of their customers. Switch to green hosting today – call now!
