New Internet Technologies Lower Carbon Footprint
The environment is a hot-button topic and the Copenhagen Conference has raised awareness more.
Many Internet searchers do not realize they are adding to their carbon footprint. Each personal computer, the network servers and servers connected world-wide to deliver the websites are all consuming power that is typically generated with fossil fuels.
Many web hosts, such as Rackspace, Super Green Hosting, Just Host and Go Green Hosting, are now offering "green" hosting. Servers are using wind and/or solar energy to operate which lowers the carbon footprint not only of the hosting company but of those individuals and companies which use them.
Even plug-ins for Word Press are going green with plug-ins such as the Online Leaf, which darkens your screen while on a site that employs the plug-ins during times of brief inactivity, Eco-Safe Merit Badge which offers visitors to your blog alternatives to printing and various Go Green Tips add-ons.
New to the party is Neutroodle, a search engine powered by Google, which was inspired by the desire to make an impact by conserving the environment. The search engine is hosted on servers which use alternative energy.
Neutroodle has also hired CO2Stats to monitor the company's energy use. CO2Stats measures the impact of websites by calculating the electricity used by all of the computers that view their clients' sites, the networks that transferred the data and the clients' servers and issue a regular report on the company's environmental impact.
A calculator to help website visitors determine their carbon footprint as well as reduce it is also available on Neutroodle.
We use video conferencing to save flights and long road trips, Internet phone to reduce the regular telephone bills and online stores to save facility and utility costs. It's nice to know that technology is advancing which can help us lower those costs and footprints even more.