PUNE: If you belong to the club of netizens, plan to have your own website or genuinely care about the environment, this one's for you. The buzzword in website hosting, green hosting' is making itself felt across the internet circles, albeit in a small way.
Now, the trend has made its way to Pune as well, with the city-based Pune Gourmet Club Association opting for an American green' server to host its recently-launched website. Green hosting refers to hosting one's website on a carbon-neutral server, viz. one whose carbon emissions are offset by the web-hosting company by green activities like planting trees etc or through the purchase of carbon credits.
While an extensive search by TOI threw up only one website that was hosted on a green server, Znet India, one of the country's largest web-hosting companies, has confirmed that they have up to 100 clients who have opted for green hosting.
Speaking to TOI, Munesh Singh, CEO of the Noida-based company, said, "Our contributions have helped towards the purchase of one hectare of land in Noida. Our staff are taking responsibility to grow trees on this land. This is a long-term project and will take twenty years before the forest becomes well-grown. The whole project is expected to sequester some 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide while making a real contribution to wildlife conservation."
And since reducing (or neutralising) one's carbon footprint attracts benefits from the government, green hosting is actually more cost efficient in the long run than conventional hosting.
Closer home, the PGCA decided to go green while launching their website recently. "Our website is hosted on Dream Host, an American server. Dream Host is a totally carbon-neutral server that purchases carbon credits on our behalf. Also, it believes in energy-efficient hardware," said Nilesh Kale, PGCA's web administrator.
Dream Host, in turn, has a green certificate' that says it has offset close to 5,000 tonnes of carbon since April 2007. And, according to Mike S, a member of Dream Host, the server offsets its entire carbon emissions, including the emissions caused by their employees' travel to the workplace!
Speaking to TOI, Zubin Saigal, director of Nettigritty Private Limited, another domestic giant in the world of hosting, confirmed that green hosting is becoming the buzzword in the world of internet. "While end-user knowledge about this is minimal and close to non-existent, it is the responsibility of hosting companies and data centres to endorse the idea and do their bit in moving towards green hosting. Of the few companies that participate in the green initiative, some do it to gain publicity, others to cut costs and some to "make a difference". Either way, its worth it," Saigal said.
Directi, a multinational conglomerate, told TOI that the Green IT' agenda is gaining momentum in India and has already attracted private and government funding.
Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of Directi, added that while the company does not undertake green hosting initiatives of its own, green hosting is sure to become "increasingly popular" among the consumers, as "concern for the environment increases".
Now, the trend has made its way to Pune as well, with the city-based Pune Gourmet Club Association opting for an American green' server to host its recently-launched website. Green hosting refers to hosting one's website on a carbon-neutral server, viz. one whose carbon emissions are offset by the web-hosting company by green activities like planting trees etc or through the purchase of carbon credits.
While an extensive search by TOI threw up only one website that was hosted on a green server, Znet India, one of the country's largest web-hosting companies, has confirmed that they have up to 100 clients who have opted for green hosting.
Speaking to TOI, Munesh Singh, CEO of the Noida-based company, said, "Our contributions have helped towards the purchase of one hectare of land in Noida. Our staff are taking responsibility to grow trees on this land. This is a long-term project and will take twenty years before the forest becomes well-grown. The whole project is expected to sequester some 200 tonnes of carbon dioxide while making a real contribution to wildlife conservation."
And since reducing (or neutralising) one's carbon footprint attracts benefits from the government, green hosting is actually more cost efficient in the long run than conventional hosting.
Closer home, the PGCA decided to go green while launching their website recently. "Our website is hosted on Dream Host, an American server. Dream Host is a totally carbon-neutral server that purchases carbon credits on our behalf. Also, it believes in energy-efficient hardware," said Nilesh Kale, PGCA's web administrator.
Dream Host, in turn, has a green certificate' that says it has offset close to 5,000 tonnes of carbon since April 2007. And, according to Mike S, a member of Dream Host, the server offsets its entire carbon emissions, including the emissions caused by their employees' travel to the workplace!
Speaking to TOI, Zubin Saigal, director of Nettigritty Private Limited, another domestic giant in the world of hosting, confirmed that green hosting is becoming the buzzword in the world of internet. "While end-user knowledge about this is minimal and close to non-existent, it is the responsibility of hosting companies and data centres to endorse the idea and do their bit in moving towards green hosting. Of the few companies that participate in the green initiative, some do it to gain publicity, others to cut costs and some to "make a difference". Either way, its worth it," Saigal said.
Directi, a multinational conglomerate, told TOI that the Green IT' agenda is gaining momentum in India and has already attracted private and government funding.
Bhavin Turakhia, CEO of Directi, added that while the company does not undertake green hosting initiatives of its own, green hosting is sure to become "increasingly popular" among the consumers, as "concern for the environment increases".
BOX 1
So, how does it work?
* When you choose to develop a website, you need a host' to upload your website on the internet
* You pay a certain booking amount to the web host, who, in turn, uses towards some of the money towards environment-friendly activities. The host might purchase carbon credits or plant trees
* In case of carbon credits, there is an international carbon exchange from where these credits can be purchased. The host uses the money to buy these credits, in the form of certificates
* Each purchase' translates into the host giving a certain sum of money to the exchange for tree plantation or other activities that avoid or reduce carbon concentration in the environment. This money is given on behalf of the website owner
* The carbon exchange then facilitates environment-friendly activities through other agencies
So, how does it work?
* When you choose to develop a website, you need a host' to upload your website on the internet
* You pay a certain booking amount to the web host, who, in turn, uses towards some of the money towards environment-friendly activities. The host might purchase carbon credits or plant trees
* In case of carbon credits, there is an international carbon exchange from where these credits can be purchased. The host uses the money to buy these credits, in the form of certificates
* Each purchase' translates into the host giving a certain sum of money to the exchange for tree plantation or other activities that avoid or reduce carbon concentration in the environment. This money is given on behalf of the website owner
* The carbon exchange then facilitates environment-friendly activities through other agencies
BOX 2
Expertspeak
There is little or close to none awareness about green websites' in India, experts say.
Ganesh Natarajan, chairman, Nasscom
"It's premature for carbon footprint measurement in IT or in India because the green movement is just beginning. However, that is one of the objectives of Nasscom's partnership with Cisco for the Green IT initiative to enable clear metrics to be developed that will measure and control the carbon footprint in IT firms as well as all our customer organisations."
"It's premature for carbon footprint measurement in IT or in India because the green movement is just beginning. However, that is one of the objectives of Nasscom's partnership with Cisco for the Green IT initiative to enable clear metrics to be developed that will measure and control the carbon footprint in IT firms as well as all our customer organisations."
Rajiv Chhiber, TERI spokesperson
"TERI can give both an industrial perspective as well as a scientific analysis of the whole clean development mechanism (CDM) situation in India, but not an IT perspective as such. One reason could be that the IT industry is still developing, hence it has to do an indepth perspective into CDM, a system that, in future through IT, stores great financial growth for our country along with a much cleaner environment."
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Pune/Websites_log_on_to_green_hosting/articleshow/3825245.cms
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