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How green is your blog? We often share tips on saving money and the environment by saving energy at BlogHer -- and of course, greening your blogging habit's part of that. But thanks to all the mixed messages and sometimes-shady green marketing out there, green blogging often sounds confusing or contradictory. How exactly does one green a blog?
We could worry about everything from getting a green computer to recycling your laptop, but for this post, I'm focusing just on blogging's energy use. Basically, your blogging habit pulls power from the grid at three places: Your own computer, your readers' computers, and your web host's servers. Your mission as a would-be green blogger: Reduce and green your power consumption in each of these areas. Here's how to go about it:
1. Green your host. If you don't have your own domain (i.e. if you have a domain that looks like yourblog.wordpress.com or myblog.blogspot.com), you can't pick your own host -- so move on to step two. If you do have your own domain, however, pick a green company to host your blog -- and choose carefully to make sure your company really is green.
What makes a web host eco-friendly? Two types of companies will tout their web hosting services as green. The first type actually produces its own green power, whether via its own solar panels, wind turbines, or other renewable energy source. The second type gets its energy from the electrical grid, just like "conventional" web hosts -- then simply buys carbon offsets for the amount of energy they use.
I recommend the first type -- both for environmental and practical purposes. With the second type, you need to do a lot more research to figure out whether the web hosting deal you're getting is really green. If a company's greening effort's achieved mainly through carbon offsets, that means the company's initially creating a lot of carbon pollution (usually by drawing from the conventional grid, which in the U.S., still gets a lot of its power from coal) -- then paying for greening initiatives (i.e., planting trees that will soak up carbon dioxide) to technically offset the amount of carbon they've put into the atmosphere.
Those purchased carbon offsets could be putting money toward really good causes -- but it'll be your onus to investigate if those carbon-offsetting projects are really legit (yes, there have been scams). Considering the fact that anyone can buy carbon offsets, I don't really see the point of going through the trouble switching to a new web host who'll buy offsets. After all, you can just stick to your current dirty web host and buy carbon offsets from a reputable offsetting company you trust with the same end result.
That's why I generally recommend going with a web host that produces its own green energy -- and thus doesn't put extra carbon emissions out there in the first place to require offsetting. My web host AISO, for example, draws power from its own solar panels -- which means I know exactly where my power's coming from (the sun!) and what it's not made from (dirty coal). Treehugger has a handy list of companies that get their power from renewable sources to get you started.
I want to make clear that I'm not unilaterally denouncing green web hosts that don't produce their own green energy. Green bloggers Karina Tipton and Jenn Sturiale at Tiny Choices, for example, use Acorn Host, which buys renewable energy certificates. Karina and Jenn describe the company as "carbon neutral, powered by green energy, and a woman owned business," though I'd quibble with that middle point since drawing from the conventional grid and buying RECs is not the same as being powered by green energy. Still, the Green America-approved, woman-owned business could be a good choice for some -- especially if you live in Portland, where the founder works to support local indie businesses and nonprofits.
Of course, a green host should not sacrifice good performance and customer service. Do some research to get reviews from people who've used the host you're considering. TriplePundit, for example, raves about SolarHost:
The site overall does a great job of being both accessible and helpful to those who aren't tech focused, and pleasing those who need to know, to the last detail, what they’ll be getting. Overall, it’s more in line with how modern business is moving: More human, less tech, great results.
But not all green
