Green Hosting for WordPress: How Sustainable Can Web Hosting Be?

Climate protection is on everyone's lips. If you run a website or an online shop, you consume a lot of resources. We want to counteract this - with our climate-positive hosting for WordPress & WooCommerce. About the opportunities and limitations of ecological web hosting offers.

"If the Internet were a country, it would have the sixth largest electricity consumption on the planet" - this is how a documentary by ZDF describes it. There are different studies about how high the electricity demand actually is. One thing is clear: Web hosting gobbles up energy - and produces a considerable amount of CO2 emissions.

Does a faster internet waste more energy?

When we're talking about energy consumption, we don't just mean the servers on which your WordPress or WooCommerce site is hosted. The infrastructure of a data center also requires a lot of resources, from air conditioning and administration to emergency power generators. As a hosting and software provider we need electricity for:

• Technical infrastructure
• Office fittings and cleaning
• Office supplies and marketing
• Food
• Mobility/travel

Not to mention that the path of your information through the Internet also costs energy. And if you understandably want to offer your customers a particularly fast portal, you use a high-performance web hosting, which, however, consumes more energy. Services like ecograder.com show you how sustainable the web design but also the hosting of your website is.

Climate neutral? Climate positive!

Green hosting can't make the energy required obsolete. But it can provide a balance. In principle, there are three options for doing this:

1. Ensure the electricity used comes from sources that are as "clean" as possible
2. Support projects that minimize CO2 emissions
3. Follow an overall sustainable corporate philosophy

RAIDBOXES uses all three variants for its green hosting, as we want to do more for the common good step by step. See our workshops on the topic. With our renaturation programs, we're not just carbon-neutral, we're climate-positive. More on that in a moment.

When you host with us, you actively contribute to climate protection. In concrete terms, this means:

1. Trees for the Eden Reforestation Projects

We researched for a long time to find a partner that provides added-value CO2 offsetting. For every WordPress site or WooCommerce shop you host with us, we plant a tree for you. We work together with Eden Reforestation Projects (Eden for short). This non-profit organization works in regions that are particularly affected by climate change and global deforestation.

Eden claims to have planted over 300 million trees since 2004, in 5 countries with a total of 82 projects. We at RAIDBOXES have added over 100,000 trees in 2020 alone - thanks to our customers.

Eden relies on local residents and workers for its projects, which are paid for by donations. This is yet another reason why we chose Eden Reforestation Projects, the organization makes an active contribution to the fight against poverty:

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2. Climate-positive project work

In addition to reforestation, we support the Greenspark initiative (formerly GetMads). It invests in climate-positive projects that are selected according to strict criteria - including the United Nations Convention to Combat CO2 Emissions. The projects Greenspark supports focus on developing countries. This additionally promotes their social and economic growth.

Through the partnership alone, RAIDBOXES currently offsets 40.48 tonnes of CO2 every month by funding certified carbon and plastic offset projects through Greenspark. Here are some examples of what this means in terms of monthly CO2 savings according to Greenspark:

• Offset equivalent of 7700 plastic bottles polluting the seas
• 43 return flights from London to Los Angeles
• Removal of over 300,000 straws or 38,500 disposable plastic cups from landfill
• More than 160,000 kilometers traveled by car

You can find more information about the initiative on the Greenspark project page.

3. Green electricity from hydropower

RAIDBOXES uses 100 percent electricity from hydropower. We're aware that not all green electricity is cast in the same mold. That's why we pay attention to the following basic conditions with our partners:

• The electricity comes entirely from plants that generate energy from hydropower. Hydropower electricity remunerated under the feed-in tariff is not included. 
• Our electricity is produced exclusively in Europe.
• The criteria are certified by TÜV and are subject to annual inspections

4. Sustainable management

In addition to balancing green hosting, we are gradually implementing a corporate philosophy that emphasizes sustainability in all areas. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Goals that do not focus on profit maximization, but on the benefits for our customers and society. See our vision on the topic of open source and equal opportunities.
• Environmentally conscious products and materials for our office, sustainable food to supply our employees.
• Employee ownership programs and concept of Holacracy . Read Why there are no bosses at RAIDBOXES anymore. Support for home office and remote work.
• Fundraising and social engagement of the team, for example for disadvantaged families or for sustainability.
• Support for customers and dealers or support for the #supportyourlocals campaign in the Corona crisis.
• Internal workshops, for example on non-violent communication (GFK).
• Promoting the mental and physical health of our employees, for example through Mental Health.

We'll continue to work on fulfilling our social responsibility. And we hope the models mentioned here will inspire others to act too. 

Images: Markus Spiske, Taylor Vick, Samuel Zeller @Unsplash