Eco-friendly ("green") hosting allows website owners to reduce their carbon footprint and support environmentally sound practices. It demonstrates their organization's commitment to sustainability. 84% of customers say a lack of eco-friendly practices would push them away from a brand or company.
Green hosting can lead to cost savings as it uses energy-efficient technologies. Here are some effective ways to implement eco-friendly practices in your hosting setup.
Table of Contents
1. Choose a green web host
Today, there is a wide variety of green hosting providers to choose from. How do you tell the real from the fake? Look for companies that use wind, solar, or hydropower for their data centers. Check for certifications such as LEED or ENERGY STAR and participate in carbon offset programs or initiatives to reduce your carbon footprint.
If your web hosting provider is not green, switch to a new one. Eco-friendly web hosts such as GreenGeeks will transfer your website for free.
Once you choose a provider, join their service. Don't tell your current host you plan to switch so they don't take your site offline.
The next step is migrating your site from the old to the new host. You download your files from the current hosting company via FTP and upload them to the new host. You must keep the same file and folder structure.
You need to back up your databases on your current hosting platform and upload them to the new one.
Now, you need to change the domain name DNS settings. Your new host will provide these. You must tell them where your domain name is registered to adjust to your new provider's settings. The process takes 48 hours.
After these 48 hours, you can cancel your service from your old host.
2. Invest in energy-efficient servers
When processor utilization doubles, server efficiency can increase by 50%. What's more, upgrading old servers makes them much more efficient. A two-generation upgrade makes AMD processor-based servers up to 300% more efficient. Optimal power management can raise efficiency by up to 15%.
Newer-generation servers are more efficient when processing larger data volumes, which means they are not as efficient when handling smaller workloads. In fact, running modern servers at low capacity compromises efficiency. They must run at total capacity to be maximally efficient.
Use high-power servers for heavier and more intense workloads, such as AI-related tasks. Modern servers' built-in power management mechanism can raise efficiency by up to 10%.
Add more cores
In some cases, adding more cores can double the server's efficiency. Enterprises can achieve maximum efficiency using a combination of servers with up to 64 cores and those with eight to 16.
3. Clean, efficient code reduces the server load
When developers rush to write code, they end up with buggy code, which needs to be fixed. Ultimately, this fix takes more time than the actual writing. A study shows that the period spent reading code is more than ten times longer than the one spent writing it.
Writing a function that can perform multiple tasks makes the code more confusing. A function should be small and perform only one thing, but it should do it perfectly.
When writing code, follow the principle of single responsibility. This means the code should have a maximum of two indent levels and shouldn't have a nested structure.
4. Promote renewable energy use
If possible, use renewable energy sources at your data center or office. As of 2024, commercial solar panels cost an average of $3 per watt installed before incentives.
5. Implement Green Software Practices
Implementing green software practices is equally important. Using lightweight themes, which are not resource-heavy, contributes to a more energy-efficient website. Selecting green plugins designed to optimize performance and reduce server demands is another way to ensure your website operates efficiently. Regular maintenance, including updating software and plugins, is vital for maintaining an energy-efficient hosting setup, as it ensures that your website is running the latest, most efficient versions of its software.
6. Monitor and Offset Carbon Emissions
Monitoring and offsetting your carbon emissions are crucial in creating an eco-friendly web hosting environment. Tools and services that help track your website's carbon footprint can provide valuable insights into your environmental impact. Partnering with organizations that offer carbon offset programs allows you to neutralize your footprint by supporting renewable energy projects or reforestation efforts, making your hosting setup even more sustainable.
7. Encourage Sustainable Practices
Encouraging sustainable practices is another step you can take to reduce the environmental impact of your web hosting setup. Educating your visitors about your eco-friendly efforts can inspire them to adopt similar practices, creating a ripple effect of sustainability. Promoting digital sustainability, such as responsible digital consumption and minimalism, can further enhance your website’s environmental credentials.
Final thoughts
This article covered the eco-friendly practices of using green hosting, improving server efficiency, adding more cores to servers, and writing clean code to minimize server load. If installing solar panels is too expensive, consider buying green energy certificates or credits.