Green Web Hosting, Sustainable Web Hosting and E-Commerce

Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way. A host must keep the power flowing. And, there isn't a single power grid on the planet that doesn't, in some way or another, rely on fossil or nuclear fuels for the majority of its supply. Every power grid is a "shared" grid. In the U.S., every customer of electrical power (residential or business) draws its use from the same overall grid. So whether or not a company buys green tickets or participates in a renewable power program, chances are that coal- and nuclear-generated electrons are constantly being used by that host's servers.

Now, feeding the shared grid are both renewable and non-renewable sources. The notion with purchasing renewable energy is that by offsetting the power Company A has used from the grid with new, renewable power, Company B can come along and use that renewable power. It's not whether the electrons from the wind/solar/whatever source are used by Company A's servers, but that the energy used is replaced through lower-impact methods (as opposed to just more fossil sources).

I agree that "Carbon credits" are indeed a misleading term, and many prominent companies and environmental "champions" tout "green tickets" a bit too much. They are gimicky for a few reasons.

1) There is no way to determine where the money from green tickets went, what power grid it benefitted, or how/if it even lessens a local impact on a given providers use of the offset electricity.

2) If you consider that about 40% of electricity generated is lost in transmission along powerlines, it becomes clear that an Oregon company buying "green tickets" from a national power utility (in, for example, the state of Virginia) really *isn't* going to be benefitting anyone outside of Virginia. The money is being spent across the U.S. for a power grid 2,000+ miles away. Doesn't really do much to help the Oregon environment. The power would never even reach Colorado.

3) I think that many "green" companies market their efforts incorrectly and/or in a misleading manner. Even those web hosts which state they are 100% powered by "their own" solar or wind farms must acknowledge that at night, the sun does go down, the source of light goes out, the wind settles down... and whether or not they have ample UPS's in place to work on batter at night, they must still have standby systems that draw their power from reserves on the grid, which most likely are... from fossil sources... not to mention, backup generators that are powered by... you guess it, oil...

Thankfully, here in the Pacific Northwest, PGE (Portland General Electric) has been successful to harness enough interest (not only from businesses like us, but 60,000+ local customers) and is spearheading direct-utility-owned wind farms such as Klondike and Bigalow Canyon in eastern Oregon and Washington. These farms are at most 150 miles up the Columbia Gorge, and are gearing up to provide tremendous amounts of power. Dozens of wind farms, in fact, are being installed throughout Washington and Oregon, all locally owned, and all feeding the local grid.

Oregon is an oddball when it comes to "renewable" energy sources. 80% of the power generated in this state is from renewable (wind, solar, geothermal) and "old school" renewable (hydro -- which has its own downsides), and yet.. only 43% of the energy USED in this state is from renewable sources. The remaining 57% is piped in from coal sources in other states (and the one coal plant in central Oregon). We were pretty amazed to learn this, and this is one reason we wanted to get set up with the Clean Wind program.

We originally looked at Pacific Power's "Clear Skies" program (they are the utility powering our facility) but it amounted to nationally-purchased "tickets". We'd basically be buying wind power for grids in California. Nothing or no-one local would benefit by this. No thanks. The PGE program, on the other hand, is open to any business that wants to participate, and aims to put power back on the local grid, supporting local utilities and companies. It really doesn't cost much at all to buy new power (note: this is not the same as "offsets" -- this is new, renewal power generated and paid for by the program's participants).

We signed onto Clean Wind not to boast or tout anything, but because we are sincerely concerned about our use of power and want to do what we can to offset that, by funding new wind sources and programs. We do utilize energy-efficient servers and network equipment, but still cannot help in knowing that every Watt of power we use is 57% from non-renewable sources off of the shared grid. So we are opting to offset our use of power with locally-generated wind sources. This way, the next company that comes along can use wind-generated Watts in our place. It all goes back to the idea of the shared grid.

In the end, if enough energy can be generated from renewable sources, the need for non-renewable sources will be greatly diminished. In the Northwest, we're well on the way towards accomplishing that goal -- even to the point of phasing out the old hydro dams in the future. Certainly, conservation is an important aspect to any service provider's "green" plan. Every step is an important one. I'd rather see a company buy green tickets than not. I'd also rather see a company invest in local renewable programs than just buy green tickets. And finally, I'd really like to see a company curb its waste as much as possible. Again, it all adds up, and doesn't take too much effort.

Sincerely,

Webservations - the Canvas Dreams blog