Green Hosting Posts - Environmental & Social

Show your support on the 1st anniversary of Business Without Blood Sports

18th Apr 2024

A huge congratulations to League Against Cruel Sports on the first anniversary of their Business Without Bloodsports campaign. We, along with many other businesses joined a year ago to pledge that we will not support or promote bloodsports of any kind, now or in the future.

A yellow background showing a wind turbine and green hosting logo. The Business Without Bloodsports pledge badge and text 'We never have and never will support or enable blood sports'.

In fact this is something that we already had built into our business’s core values from the day we founded Make Hay web design and Green Hosting nearly 20 years ago. Our ethical policy, which outlines the kinds of activities we love to support via our services and those we do not wish to profit from, has included bloodsports as something we irrefutably do not support since the beginning. And so now being able to officially lend our voice, along with the League Against Cruel Sports and other businesses, to speak up against this horrific activity is something we are delighted to do.

You too can make your pledge to never support or promote bloodsports via your business.

Being able to support an organisation that makes a real difference to animals that suffer in the name of ‘sport’ is what really matters. Through their hard work, dedication and perseverance League Against Cruel Sports makes things happen through their collaboration with other organisations and law enforcement, by offering education and research and in maintaining nature reserves for wildlife, as well as so much more in their campaigns and awareness raising.

We wish you continued success, League Against Cruel Sports, alongside your allies and supporters until animal cruelty is a thing of the past. Thank you for everything you do.


Supporting Renewable World, an update

8th Feb 2024

Last March we wrote about why we continue to support Renewable World, a charity which tackles povery and climate change through off-grid, renewable energy solutions for low-income individuals, families and communities in remote places.Renewable World logo

Since their inception in 2008, alongside the people they work with, they have made some remarkable achievements. The impact they have is tangible, lasting and sustainable and we go into more detail about our decision to donate to them in our Impact section.

We know that it is important to our clients that we spend the money we make via our business in a responsible and ethical manner. It's why we have an ethical policy. And so here's a quick update on Renewable World's activities in the past year:

  • 50,965 people reached
  • 7,911 people with improved access to energy for productive use
  • 1,396 people with a safe and reliable solar-powered water supply
  • 387 people trained in climate-smart agriculture
  • 8 active projects in 2 countries
  • 191 new tap stands fitted
  • 4 community based flood early warning systems installed
  • 198 households benefiting from new clean cooking solutions
  • 8 health centres electrified, serving at least 21,082 people
  • 7378 tonnes of carbon avoided through Renewable World's programme

You can read Renewable World's full annual report here.

By 2026 their aim is to empower over 200,000 people to transform their lives through clean, affordable, and reliable energy. And they will be on track to transform the lives of over 500,000 people by 2030. We can't wait to see this happen!


Sign up to our newsletter

12th Jan 2024

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If we were pen pals, here’s what we would write to you about…

  • Useful tips and guides for website owners
  • Discounts and affiliate opportunities
  • The work of diverse, ethical brands, organisations and individuals
  • News from the ethical business world
  • Updates on the action and charities we support and our impact

Best of all, we will only write to you 4 times a year.

That could be useful if you’re thinking of switching to Green Hosting one day.

Switching your website to Green Hosting is one really simple way that you can make your brand, organisation or project more responsible to people and our planet.

Sign up to our newsletter here


Providing the best in web hosting energy efficiency

8th Dec 2023

Green Hosting is powered 100% by renewable energy and has been for many years. A recent upgrade also means that we provide the very best in web hosting energy efficiency too.

An illustration of hills, water and sun with a wind turbine and decorative textWhy is it important for renewable energy to be used efficiently?

You might be wondering, if we only use 100% renewable sources (wind, sun, sea) to power our servers and not fossil fuels, why is energy efficiency so important?

We feel that it’s not just important, it is vital. Only using as much power as you need, reducing waste and most of all designing systems that require less power reduces the demand on the precious natural resources and the infrastructure that supplies it. This in turn can allow for more widespread use and potentially lower future energy costs. For us, it always comes back to being part of a wider movement for positive change, for people and the planet.

How does it work?

The data centre that houses the Green Hosting servers have achieved a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.05, making it one of the most efficient data centres in the world. Until recently, we could boast the excellent PUE of 1.2 but 1.05 is so much better!

This level of efficiency is achieved due to the data centre’s design and build. Firstly, to keep the very hot servers cool, it employs ‘evaporative cooling’ which works by running air and water via EcoCooling units. Simply put, outside cool air is passed through water, which evaporates and makes the air even cooler. On cold days (which are common in the UK), the water isn’t even needed and on hot days it can handle the strain. This type of cooling uses no refrigeration or harmful chemicals, just nature’s own air and water. In addition, the data centre operates ‘cold aisle containment’ which ensures that the hot air produced by the servers and the cooled air are kept separate, meaning the cooling process isn’t affected and energy isn’t wasted.

That’s not all. We have even more to look forward to; During 2024-2025 the data centre has plans to add its own roof mounted solar panel array, providing additional on-site renewable energy. We will keep you updated on this as it happens. Find out more about the data centre that houses Green Hosting.


Green Hosting in the best 10 green and eco-friendly hosting providers in 2023

17th Nov 2023

The authority on web hosting, HostingAdvice.com, has named Green Hosting as one of the top 10 green and eco-friendly hosting providers in 2023.

HostingAdvice.com 10 best eco friendly hosting badgeHostingAdvice have been providing reviews, guides, advice and information about web hosting since 2014. Their hosting and programming experts have over 50 years of combined web hosting knowledge.

It was great to hear we had been added to the HostingAdvice top 10 list as they had clearly recognised not only our commitment to powering ours and our clients’ websites with 100% renewable energy but also our uptime reliability and partnership with other ethical organisations. Additionally, as some of you may already know, our servers are housed in one of the most energy efficient data centres in the world. On top of this, we have an ethical policy which outlines the kind of work we love to support, we donate a percentage of our Green Hosting sales to the clean energy project Renewable World and we provide voluntary web and hosting services to local social and environmental organisations. Our clients love our great customer service and we love to champion their work too. So, we agree with HostingAdvice that our Green Hosting stands out from the crowd.

Thank you HostingAdvice!


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