So you think you want a “Green” Website? A quick look at the options available shows a ton of “wind powered” hosting options. However, with slightly more scrutiny you will notice that most, perhaps all, of the “Green” hosting services are not tied to actual wind power. One particularly misleading provider has “100% powered by wind and solar” on their front page and when you click through it says “we couldn't install solar panels or construct a few wind turbines outside.” Instead they use carbon offset. Carbon offsetting is the purchase of carbon credits to replace your actual carbon emissions. “Greenwashing” I say!!!
The obvious question to ask at this juncture is why don’t you use your existing hosting service and purchase your own carbon offset. Lets leave that option for another post and focus on truly “Green” hosting for your firm’s web site.
Changing your google search to “solar powered web hosting” nets the following providers http://myecoserver.com/, http://integrishosting.com, and http://www.aiso.net/ all of which provide solar powered data centers to host your cloud or web site. I don’t have any specific recommendations among these providers at this time but if you want a “Very Green” website for your firm then a solar powered data center is the way to go.
Update: I signed up for ingrishosting.com stay tuned for my experiences using a "Green" web hosting provider.
Update 2: Tim Hooks recommended a wind farm hosting provider Canvas Dreams.