Going Green?, Any chance you'll use alternative energy soon? Options

[mida68]

Hello, I host with one of your resellers who does a great job - HandsonHosting.com and I am expanding my web design biz. I would like to boast that we use alternative or green energy to run our web sites but I don't see any mention of it here.

I have considered * and * who have managed to either use their energy as an "exchange" credit with the power company or flat out produce their own energy.

For some high-end sites, the "home brew" method would be inappropriate but for smaller brochure style sites that are not as mission critical and can easily be moved should a problem occur, I would like to use the green alternatives.

Any plans in the works??

[nibb]

I dont think so. The gree stuff is just a marketing concept. It really doesn't help more the environment to be a green host. Try a Green Car maker, thats green !!!

Aiso.net i have read the first think on Ping Zine magazine about then, they sound really nice. Of course you a pay a expensive host account for it.

[doc]

Just my humble opinion but this thread comes off as spam. A 1st time poster listing links in their post just seems like they are trying to drum up traffic for those links.

Just my humble opinion.

[Brooke-Sales]

Just my humble opinion but this thread comes off as spam. A 1st time poster listing links in their post just seems like they are trying to drum up traffic for those links.

Just my humble opinion.

I was thinking the same thing, doc. I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt though. The links go, but the post remains.

[Brooke-Sales]

Ok, now that that's all sorted out we can discuss the topic at hand ...

Back in February, Jeff Lowenberg sat down with Matt Stansberry of SearchDataCenter.com to do this interview. He talks about the way we're making our existing data centers more energy efficient, and how we're looking at using hydroelectric power for possible future data centers in the Midwest.

While planting a tree for every server to offset carbon emissions is a really neat idea, and something I think would be cool for us to do, making our data centers more efficient first makes the most sense. Also, I found it interesting that we chose to position these changes as “We’re using less power, being more efficient and saving money,” rather than saying, “We’re greener,” even though this article was written about the same time green data centers were getting a lot of press. You’re right, nibb, in that it is a lot about marketing and how a company chooses to position itself.

I could be missing something, and I’d really love to see some discussion on this topic, particularly if I’m wrong, but here is how I see it. Two data centers walk into a consulting firm and say, “I want to be more energy efficient.” The consulting firm presents a list of recommendations. Both data centers decide to implement the exact same recommendations. The first DC tells his customers, “We’ve gone green!” The second DC tells his customers, “We’re saving you money!”

[skeeter1jd]

They tried it once in the Houston Datacenter. All the hamsters died on their wheel in about 10 minutes. We still hold memorials.

[Creed3020]

Well I find this topic very interesting. Especially since the degree I am currently striving for is in Environment and Resource Studies.

"Greener" data center design is something I have thought of.

Here is something to start us off with. Some months ago I came across this link in a blog: http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/7152161.html

The gist is that the Datacenter in question is trying to achieve Gold Level LEEDs certification. I know the faculty at my University also tried to achieve a level in this certification when the renovation of our building was underway.

Also, since the original poster is asking specifically about power generated through other means, read up on this: http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index....amp;pagtype=all

This article is about a recent offering from the redundant power giant APC, who are trying to market fuel cells. It is definatly worth checking out.

[Jeff]

and how we're looking at using hydroelectric power for possible future data centers in the Midwest.

The Midwest part is quite interesting too... since I happen to be closer to the midwest

[hootieben]

You guys should go out to the old clocktower where I hear you can get 1.21 gigawatts of power.

[AreYouServed]

Here I am always doing what I can to make sure we are as energy efficient as possible: we use low energy light bulbs; remanufactured toner; green / eco-friendly office supplies; paper with a percentage of recycled paper in it; etc. We've also reduced the number of power hungry machines that we used to run, and reduced them into more efficient work stations.

I think this is one of the biggest things that small-medium sized companies can do to help in regards to the impact on the environment.

[handlebar]

Heh, odd that this topic would appear here. Just a few days ago I was renewing some server rental contracts I have with a company in New York. They told me I could renew my current servers, a dual Xeon 2.8 and a dual Opteron 250, at a certain price, or I could get $60 off per month if I upgraded to Xeon 3060 systems. They said that the cost savings is due to better energy efficiency. Has TP ever thought of offering something like this to their customers? Seems like a pretty easy way to save a few bucks, get rid of old hardware and make things 'greener'. I would love to get rid of my older servers if I knew that I could get a discount on a new server and help the environment.

I can go into more details via PM if a TP employee wants to chat.

[Heatseeker]

Doesn't Google have a bunch of solar panels on the roof of their buildings? I think that's pretty .

[mida68]

Goodness, quite a range of replies! Well, first off, I have NO connection to those companies so the same people that are making snide remarks about "going green" are probably the same that think I'm a spammer. I just wanted people to be able to reference *how* they are going green like home brew energy vs energy credits. I do host with HandsonHosting but get no kick-backs for telling anyone they are a good host.

I'm not totally naive. I've read up quite a bit and while it might seem like a marketing ploy, I want to push for more than "personal conservation" and reach up into business conservation on a higher scale. Look at the really big businesses like Ford who've made huge "green" factories because, yes, it saves them money, but what a great side effect of using less energy and even creating healthier work environments. When people are signing up for small web sites, they may be more impressed that their site is "green" than it's saving someone else energy funds. I did see the solar panels on Google - they were featured in a new documentary called "Green: The new Red White and Blue."

Yes, I recycle, yes, I have a few energy efficient light bulbs, can't afford a hybrid but my next car will be very efficient. Having said that if all my clients sites were hosted with green companies who in turn are supporting alternative energy, wouldn't I be going up the food chain a bit? Pushing those up higher to make some changes?

I suppose some of you think I’m wasting my time – hey there’s senator from Oklahoma that you might like

[handsonwebhostin...]

HI Folks,

This is my first post here at theplanet forums, however we've been a client with theplanet for about 2 years - some may remember us from the rackshack forums from 3 or 4 years ago - cpanel, modernbill or webhosting talk forums.

Anyway - I just wanted to comment on the "going green" thread that was posted. The person that had posted here had actually submitted a support ticket to us (they've been a client with us for about 2 years if not longer at this point). I had sent a note to our sales rep about the possibilities of using green in the data centers and if any plans were being made, however there was no real response regarding it.

I had informed the person who started this thread of what data center we were hosting servers at, and I had done a search here in the forums about green but saw no action - she suggested starting a thread to get some feedback.

This thread, from my understanding, was an information post to find out what the thoughts are on Green Energy and the possibility of using it much like some other large datacenters are currently doing. This thread was not intended to be a spamming campaign, however I can see how some people can get the idea given that it was the first post.

Hopefully I have helped clear up the validity of the posting and how it came to be posted at the planet forums rather than in our support center.

Conor Treacy
Hands-on Web Hosting
http://www.handsonwebhosting.com

[SalesOPs-Isaac]

Heh, odd that this topic would appear here. Just a few days ago I was renewing some server rental contracts I have with a company in New York. They told me I could renew my current servers, a dual Xeon 2.8 and a dual Opteron 250, at a certain price, or I could get $60 off per month if I upgraded to Xeon 3060 systems. They said that the cost savings is due to better energy efficiency. Has TP ever thought of offering something like this to their customers? Seems like a pretty easy way to save a few bucks, get rid of old hardware and make things 'greener'. I would love to get rid of my older servers if I knew that I could get a discount on a new server and help the environment.

I can go into more details via PM if a TP employee wants to chat.

Hello,

When you compare the price of our newer Xeon 3060 Conroe's to that of the Dual Xeon 2.8's it is actually about $50/Mth cheaper for the Xeon 3060...

While I would be happy to assist you in upgrading out of your old servers there some other factors that need to be taken into account as well.

If you would like you can send me your account ID and respective servers IP's that you wish to upgrade out of and I can see how we can best accommodate the process of upgrading for you.

My direct email address is: isaac.k@theplanet.com

-Isaac K.

[SalesOPs-Isaac]

You guys should go out to the old clocktower where I hear you can get 1.21 gigawatts of power.

Hello,

Just be sure if you get one of those new Flux Capacitor servers that you don't send it back to 1985...

 Drawing1.jpg ( 76.21K ) Number of downloads: 18


-Isaac K.

[Jeff]

Seems like a pretty easy way to save a few bucks, get rid of old hardware and make things 'greener'. I would love to get rid of my older servers if I knew that I could get a discount on a new server and help the environment.

I love the idea of getting a faster server AND less electrical operating cost, but it seems to help the environment you'd also have to take into consideration the cost of energy and materials to manufacturer the new components and disposal/reuse of the existing in-place server if you're talking about swapping instead of adding.

[Gorrdy]

Anyways, time to fire up my SUV to drive next door to pick up another case of beer and pack o smokes.

[handlebar]

I love the idea of getting a faster server AND less electrical operating cost, but it seems to help the environment you'd also have to take into consideration the cost of energy and materials to manufacturer the new components and disposal/reuse of the existing in-place server if you're talking about swapping instead of adding.

Very true. I guess I'm under the assumption that ThePlanet does responsibly recycle their older servers and that the cost of manufacturing a new server isn't very much considering it is amortized across the lifetime of the server. Let's hope those are safe assumptions.

It would be pretty cool to see datacenters have a program to swap old hardware for new. I'm hard pressed to think of a customer that wouldn't want upgraded hardware, provided the underlying hardware was compatible and the specs were similar (hard drive space, memory, same IP addresses, etc).

When you compare the price of our newer Xeon 3060 Conroe's to that of the Dual Xeon 2.8's it is actually about $50/Mth cheaper for the Xeon 3060...

This is definitely what I'm talking about and is a great thing, but I'd imagine a lot of people are scared off when they see that the new server will have a new IP address, new datacenter, etc. Would be great if it was an in-place upgrade so that the only labor would be to move the data from one server to another.

[Jeff]

An in-place upgrade would be a nice option, but I imagine it would come at a price. The difficulty is that if anything goes wrong that equals downtime for the customer, plus there has to be a coordination between planet staff and customer to get the timing just right, which means less collectible/billable hours and more time spent coordinating & scheduling.

Very true. I guess I'm under the assumption that ThePlanet does responsibly recycle their older servers and that the cost of manufacturing a new server isn't very much considering it is amortized across the lifetime of the server. Let's hope those are safe assumptions.

Obviously if you replace serverA with more-efficient serverB the time to amortize the manufacturing serverA is shortened, maybe cut in half, so the amortized cost per month of manufacturing it could be doubled. Anyone have a ballpark percentage figure for how much of the cost of a $2000 server is materials & energy cost to make it vs. intellectual property costs, profit, and wages?