5 Best Green Web Hosting Companies in 2021
A study by the Boston Consulting Group found that the internet contributes to about 2% of greenhouse gas emissions per year. And, as more people across the world gain internet access, this figure is set to rise. As of now, the internet accounts for 10% of the global electricity demand.
Since the internet has become a part of our lives that we cannot do without, we can only reduce this environmental degradation rather than completely eliminating it. One of the ways we can do this is by using green web hosting providers.
5 Best Green Web Hosting Companies in 2021
GreenGeeks.com
GreenGeeks offsets its carbon footprint through Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs). They work with the Bonneville Environmental Foundation to calculate their yearly energy consumption and then purchase three times that amount in RECs so that renewable energy is put back into the national grid. Additionally, they work with the One Tree Planted foundation to plant one tree every time they get a new hosting account. Lastly, they employ Solid State Drives (SSDs), which are more energy-efficient and faster than the traditional HDD.
GreenGeeks offers several different hosting plans, including shared, WordPress, reseller, and managed VPS hosting. Their plans offer a free domain name, free backup, and free web migration services.
Additionally, GreenGeeks servers have one of the best uptime records, with a monthly average uptime of 99.9%. They also offer a fast average page loading speed.
InMotion Hosting
InMotion is working towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions by using a natural cooling system in their LA data center. This system helps to reduce energy consumption by up to 70%. The system uses advanced Outside Air Cooling technology, which vents hot air out of the building and brings cooler air. Additionally, in partnership with the Tree for the Future initiative, InMotion Hosting is working to plant 5,000 trees in the developing world.
InMotion Hosting offers three shared hosting plans. These plans come with a free domain, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, and a site builder. This offer also comes with a free backup, security features, and 24/7 access to knowledgeable customer support.
A2 Hosting
As part of its green initiative, A2 Hosting has partnered with CarbonFund.org, a leading organization against climate change. Their work involves reducing CO2 emissions, reforestation, and promoting energy efficiency.
Other significant green initiatives adopted by A2 Hosting include:
Working from home to reduce emissions during commutes
Carpooling whenever staff have to travel
Encouraging the use of coffee mugs instead of disposable cups
Repurposing decommissioned hardware rather than disposing of them.
Their shared hosting plan comes with unlimited storage and bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, a site builder tool, and free website migration services. Other impressive features include friendly customer support and an anytime money-back guarantee.
iPage Hosting
iPage Hosting's green initiative involves purchasing RECs to offset its carbon footprint. So for each kWh of energy used, they are buying two times that amount in RECs, and this energy is put into the national grid.
iPage's hosting plans are made even more affordable by their generous promotional discounts, with which you can get a shared plan for as low as $1.99 a month. In addition, they also have relatively cheap renewable prices starting at $7.99. These, however, come at the expense of uptime and speed, which makes iPage unsuitable for a sizeable website. Thus, they are best suited for small, personal sites.
Hostgator
For more than 12 years, Hostgator has been purchasing RECs through 3Degrees Inc., resulting in an offset of its carbon footprint of around 130%. This is among the longest-running green hosting initiatives in the industry. Hostgator is also helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions by using servers with a power efficiency of 30% in their data centers.
Hostgator's shared hosting plans include a free domain name for a year, a free SSL certificate, site builder tools, one-click WordPress installer, and advertising certificates. Additionally, they have a knowledgeable customer support team that is available 24/7 via several channels.
Conclusion
Transferring your web hosting to a green host will help to lower your carbon footprint. However, you don't want to sacrifice eco-friendliness for performance. You still need a provider with exceptional hosting services. Therefore, when searching for the best green web hosting companies, look for those that strike a balance between their green hosting initiatives and their web hosting services.
