There is a slight difference between reselling and co-locating which is outlined in a future post.

So how do you check if your host is a reseller?  It can be tricky, but the first place to check is this website: http://www.whoishostingthis.com.  Enter your web hosts domain (ie: hostgator.com).  It will run what’s called a “reverse DNS lookup” which will indicate where the servers are actually located.  You’ll notice Hostgator is actually hosted by a company called “The Planet” which is a large-scale server leasing company.

Reseller hosting is not necessarily a bad thing.  If you are looking for basic hosting services, this is a perfectly fine source.  If you want core access, root access, and very specific requirements, you may want to look at companies who are not resellers.

The type of server matters. Blade servers tend to be more efficient because often components that consume the most energy can be shared such as fans and motherboards/processors.

The age matters. Servers are like any other technology, they become outdated as soon as they ship from the factory. Unfortunately, web hosts make money after servers have been paid for, so there is built-in economic incentives to keep servers well past their prime.

Hard drive and storage types matter. Solid state hard drives (not often found in web hosting applications) consume much less energy because there is no spinning disk.

Power supply matters. How the host configures their power supply can increase or decrease energy consumption dramatically.

Cooling systems matter. As server farms or data centers become more advanced, more efficient methods of cooling the massive heat generated by servers advances as well. From liquid nitrogen to water cooled, the method of cooling matters. Choose hosts located in colder climates. This takes less energy from the grid to cool controlled atmospheres.

Ask your host about these things, and make them part of your web host evaluation.

a) Carbon credits have been purchased equal to the energy consumption (effectively removing the exhausted carbon from the atmosphere through scrubbing or reclamation programs).

b) Renewable energy credits have been purchased equal to the consumption of non-renewable fuels (effectively inserting clean energy into the grid).

Renewable energy is defined as any source of energy generated from natural sources which are naturally replaced.  However using this definition – one might say that oil is a naturally occuring, naturally renewing source.  So we append this definition with “Energy that is generated from natural sources that does not produce any significant amount of pollution through either production, generation or maintenance.”

Simply put, renewable energy is wind power, hydroelectric, photovoltaic (solar), biomass, geothermal or biofuel.

This could also mean the host has contributed to a program that is supposed to have “scrubbed” the atmosphere of the amount of CO2 the host put in.

Important note: This does not mean the servers are powered by wind, solar, etc. This means the energy could have come from anywhere, and the host has made the effort to neutralize their carbon footprint.

Several green hosts claim they have replaced their old, clunky, energy-sucking servers with state-of-the-art, energy efficient ones.

This is difficult to verify – however several hosts identify the exact servers they use which can be checked against a list of most efficient servers. Dell, HP and IBM all sell an energy efficient model of their servers.

The world is at a tipping point right now when it comes to making web hosting more environmentally friendly. Ways that hosts are greening their services include:

• Using energy efficient servers
• Powering their facilities with on-property solar or wind energy
• Purchasing carbon credits or energy offsets to remove the carbon they put into the atmosphere
• Planting trees for each new account to balance out the carbon footprint
• and more