Green web host

If you have a web site, you can do something to make an environmental difference - go solar.

I read this article in the (Sob!) final issue of Business 2.0, one of my favorite biz rags: "Server Farms Go Solar."

Massive data centers are vital to the economy. They are also notorious power hogs. If their numbers keep growing at the expected rate, the United States alone will need nearly a dozen new power plants by 2011 just to keep the data flowing, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

That's why a small server-farm company called AISO.net (for "affordable Internet services online") has gone completely off the grid. Located 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles in the desert hamlet of Romoland, AISO.net has flanked its 2,000-square-foot building with two banks of ground-mounted solar panels, which generate 12 kilowatts of electricity. Batteries store the juice for nighttime operation.

Relevant Factoids:

• AISO.net is completely off the grid, gathering all their energy from the sun in Romoland, CA.
  
• GreenestHost.com is reselling AISO's 100% solar service to mom & pop websites.
  
• Al Gore's LiveEarth concerts were webcast on AISO's servers.
• Sun Microsystems cut energy consumption 61% with their new state-of-the-art facility.
  

Paint the web green!