Sustainable Development, Part One
In the corporate world, sustainability and environmental awareness is usually low on the agenda. Public companies make “commitments to the environment”[1] but never at the expense of profits, so through dedication and persistence you can make a difference but it’s often a long and demoralising process.
One of the reasons I started Lylo was so I could work for a company which had an ethos I believed in and environmental awareness has always been high on my agenda. Over the coming weeks I’ll be publishing a few short articles detailing how we are trying to operate as a sustainable company to the best of our abilities. We might be small, but this can’t stop us leading by example.
Web Hosting
This site was previously hosted in London but now it’s coming at you from the sci-fi-sounding, sun-drenched Romoland, California. Our new hosts, AISO, are a forward-thinking company with a commitment to “fighting pollution and preserving our natural resources”. They achieve this by using a dedicated grid of solar panels to provide all the power and light their offices and data centre require. They’re effectively off-grid, but they remain connected to keep the business running in case of emergency. You can read more about AISO’s services here.
There is a growing number of eco-friendly web hosting companies out there, the majority of who operate like any normal host (i.e. powered by the national energy grid) but with a guarantee that all the energy they consume comes from renewable sources (in the form of ‘energy credits’), such as Think Host and Elfon. Some, like AISO, take that commitment one step further by producing their own power.
All these ‘eco hosts’ represent a new movement with the aim of creating a sustainable future for the web. In time they will come to represent the norm, but it will take commitment from hosting companies and customers alike to make it happen as quickly as it needs to.
[1] A fast food leviathan, an oil company and an airline. Fully committed to the environment?
Posted by Olly on March 6, 2006 at 10:11 pm in environment, sustainability
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