Webcraft Studios Blog

I spent some time this evening searching for a green web host for my clients. I found dozens. The bulk majority of them did not offer a resellers program. I suspect that many of them were actually resellers themselves. I would very much like to develop a relationship directly with the people who can walk in the next room and press the reset button on my server.

Green hosts call themselves green for one of two reasons. Some hosts actually get their power directly from green sources such as wind and solar. Other green hosts simply pay for carbon offsetting. I suppose one is as good as the other; but it would be nice to know that my servers are powered by a renewable resource.

The “non-green” service bar was set by Host Gator. They come highly recommended and have an excellent resellers program. Tonight, I found only 3 potential green hosting providers with resellers programs to compare against the Gator:

• Web Hosting Buzz: Carbon neutral by paying for offset. I’d really prefer that they were actually using green power. To their credit, they do have fairly competitive resellers programs.
• Affordable Internet Services Online: Solar powered! However, they ONLY offer Windows based servers. Ironic, in a way… An open source server takes priority over being green.
• Think Host: 100% Wind/Solar Powered! FreeBSD & Linux Servers! However, their resellers program looks like a sketchy variation of one of their normal multi-domain hosting plans. I need to know that my customers will have cleanly segregated accounts with independent control panels.

Thus far, I’m not overwhelmingly excited about any of the options I’ve found. I would welcome any recommendation.