Go Green with Web Hosting Canada on Earth Day

The 48th annual Earth Day was on April 22, 2018. A day where we all took a little more time to think about how our actions affect the world we share. But while we examine our own transportation habits or ponder how to make our homes more energy efficient, why not take a moment to think about going (or being) green on the web?

We often think of the virtual world as being separate from our own but the Internet runs on servers that consume electricity, causing a real world environmental impact. Since 70% of Canadians believe reducing the energy we consume is important, choosing a green hosting provider can play a part.

What sets a Green Web Hosting provider Apart from Another?

Cloud and hosting providers can substantially reduce their carbon footprint by optimizing their operations in 3 important areas:

1. Type of power: fast servers require electricity to run but where that electricity comes from makes a big difference.

   Coal creates roughly 200 pounds of CO2 per KWH, natural gas 130 pounds, while wind, solar and hydro produce near-zero CO2 emissions. Web Hosting Canada datacenters rely almost exclusively on Hydroelectricity, generating substantially lower emissions.

2. Type of servers: Just as light bulbs have become more energy efficient (LEDs consume roughly 75% less energy than halogen bulbs), so too have servers.

   The two main types of storage on servers are mechanical drives (also called hard drives) and solid-state drives (SSD). With no moving parts, greater speed and efficiency, SSDs generally use only a third of the energy needed for hard drives performing the same task. WHC uses power-efficient SSD storage on its Web Hosting and Cloud servers.

3. Type of Cooling: While operating, servers produce a significant amount of heat and require cooling to ensure optimal performance.

   Air conditioning is a great invention for people but not for the environment. A 2.5 ton central air conditioning unit consumes about 3500 watts per hour while a ceiling fan consumes 15 to 90 watts per hour. The type of cooling system that a datacenter uses drastically affects its environmental impact.

   WHC's datacenters ensure energy-efficient cooling with natural outdoor air and water cooling systems.



And that’s not all!

4. We’re saving trees by going paperless. You’ll never get a paper bill from us (so make sure your email works! :)
5. WHC incentives employee use of public transit or Bixi, Montreal’s public bicycle program.
6. We recycle (doesn’t everybody by now?)

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Go Green Today!

Let’s work together to make Canada Green.

Happy Earth Day from the WHC team!