100 points to know about...
Eco-Design Web Development

Now that we've gotten familiar with green web hosts, certificates and PUE rating, let’s have a look at some of the best green hosts and their achievements.

Green Geeks https://www.greengeeks.com/

Type of certification: REC. They also closely collaborate with other environmentally conscious companies buying wind energy credits. Their data centres are more eco-friendly thanks to efficient hardware for their data servers. Besides that, they plant a tree for every person who signs up for their services.

Kualo https://www.kualo.co.uk/

Type of certification: REC. They run their data centres based in the USA and UK with 100 % renewable energy. In the UK their energy provider is E.ON and in the US – Native Energy. They invested in energy efficient servers. Their PUE rating is between 1.2 and 1.3. As part of their green policies, they promote remote working to reduce travelling, encourage recycling and aim to reduce waste. Kualo is also very active in tree planting to offset carbon emissions: the company plants one tree for each order, plus 12 additional trees monthly for each of its employees. Since 2020, the company is committed to becoming a climate positive business (you can learn more about it here: https://www.kualo.co.uk/blog/becoming-a-climate-positive-business )

A2 Hosting https://www.a2hosting.com/

Type of green certification: VER. The company partners with Carbonfund.org to go green, purchasing carbon offsets equivalent to 100 % of all the power they consume. Through this partnership Carbonfund.org can invest more in generating power with clean, renewable sources on a global scale. The web host’s donations have neutralized approximately 2.3 million pounds of greenhouse gases.
Besides that, A2 hosting recycles its old hardware, either using it for the clients who need fewer resources or re-selling it to the public. They increase their overall data centres efficiency thus reducing the need for cooling.

HostPapa https://www.hostpapa.com/

Type of certification: REC. The company partners with Bonneville Environmental Foundation. Their green energy tags (RECs) are worth 100 % of the energy consumed, resulting in neutralization of thousands of tons of CO2.
One interesting initiative to highlight was their work in donating $5 to the Save the Elephants foundation for every client that wanted to migrate from GoDaddy. This initiative was a response to the former GoDaddy CEO sharing a video from an elephant-hunting trip on Twitter.
Other eco-friendly policies: Regular Earth Day initiatives and reforestation efforts.

Eco Web Hosting https://www.ecowebhosting.co.uk/

Type of certification: VER. Eco Web Hosting publishes monthly sustainability reports as proof of its work on environmental protection. For example, in September 2021, the company planted more than 4,800 trees in Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Nepal and the United Kingdom, and also funded two Gold Standard projects in India and Indonesia.
Besides purchasing carbon offsets they co-work with tree-planting organisations for each website hosted.
The company states that their servers are extremely efficient and they are always finding new ways for improving their efficiency.

What other aspects to consider when choosing a web host?

Besides the web host´s sustainability approach, take into account some other aspects, such as:

• whether it satisfies all your technical needs;
• price;

and the most important components:

• reliability
• excellent customer service.