If you’re setting up a new website or have an existing site and you’d like it to be as eco-friendly as possible, you should take a look at SustainableWebsites.com, a web hosting company with competitive prices and a green marketing edge: it is 100 percent powered by renewable sources of energy. No, there’s not a windmill out behind the data center and solar panels on the roof. That wouldn’t be a sufficiently reliable power source for a web hosting company given the need to keep websites operational 24/7/365.
Instead, the company achieves its “100 percent carbon neutral” claim by purchasing offsets - the company offsets 100% of its energy usage with Certified Wind Power.
As the company explains on its website:
We purchase 100% of our power usage equivalent for our servers and office equipment in wind-powered Renewable Energy Certificates. Renewable energy certificates (RECs), also known as green certificates, green tags, or tradable renewable certificates, represent the environmental attributes of the power produced from renewable energy projects and are sold separate from commodity electricity (your normal utility bill). Anyone can buy green certificates whether or not they have access to green power through their local utility or a competitive electricity marketer (us!). And they can purchase green certificates without having to switch electricity suppliers.
By purchasing renewable energy certificates, we’re not only offsetting our own emissions of harmful pollutants and greenhouse gases, we’re participating in a community of responsible businesses and individuals. The income from REC’s goes towards either supporting existing wind turbine farms or developing new ones.
Our green power is made at the Mountain View Wind facility in San Gorgonio Pass, California. The pass is about 18 miles west of Palm Springs, and is one of the most established wind energy areas in the U.S. The 111-turbine Mountain View Wind Project generates enough energy to server more than 40,000 homes in California. REC’s are purchased through our partnership with 3Phases Energy Services.
Wind-generated power from those wind turbines goes onto the grid where it mixes with power generated by coal-fired plants, nuclear plants and other sources. If Sustainable Websites’ electricity provider is actually using the REC’s to expand the amount of power it gets from wind, then Sustainable Websites is actually having a good green impact from buying them.
Sustainable Websites is a part of the Sustainable Marketing green business network.
