Renewable electricity
The biggest factor is where the power comes from.
- The data centres buy electricity on 100% renewable supply contracts
- Contracts like these are backed by certificates that match the electricity used with renewable generation
Green web hosting UK
Green web hosting from £2.99 a month
Our servers are in two Manchester data centres that buy their electricity on 100% renewable supply contracts. Cooling uses outside air where it can, and the backup generators run on HVO instead of diesel. Here’s what that means, and what it doesn’t.
100% renewable supply contracts · HVO generators · Design PUE 1.25
100%renewable electricity contracts
1.25design PUE
HVOfuel in the backup generators
UKservers in Manchester
Where the savings come from
Four things that make our hosting greener
Efficient cooling
Cooling is the largest use of power after the servers themselves.
- Chilled water cooling, which uses cold outside air in place of chillers whenever the weather allows
- Manchester’s climate means free cooling is available for much of the year
- Designed for a PUE of 1.25
Cleaner backup power
Generators only run in a power cut or for testing.
- Standby generators run on HVO, made from waste oils and fats
- HVO gives off far less carbon over its life than fossil diesel
Shared servers
Sharing hardware is more efficient than one server per site.
- Many small websites share one well-used server instead of each running a mostly idle machine
- CloudLinux shares the server fairly, so it can be run at a sensible load
Plain facts
What PUE means
PUE stands for power usage effectiveness. It compares the total power a data centre uses with the power that reaches the servers. A PUE of 2.0 means that for every unit of power the servers use, another unit goes on cooling, lighting and losses. A PUE of 1.25 means only a quarter of a unit extra is used. The lower the number, the less is wasted.
What we don’t claim
We’d rather be accurate than make the biggest promise. So, to be clear:
- We don’t claim to be carbon neutral. Building servers, shipping them and running offices all have a carbon cost, and we don’t offset it.
- Renewable contracts are not the same as a wind turbine on the roof. The electricity reaching the building comes from the national grid. The renewable contracts mean an equal amount of renewable generation has been bought to match what’s used.
- 1.25 is a design figure. It’s what the cooling is built to achieve. The real figure changes with the weather and how full the halls are.
Making your own website lighter
The hosting is only part of the picture. A smaller, faster website uses less energy every time someone visits it, and it ranks and converts better too:
- Resize and compress photos before you upload them. A phone photo straight from the camera can be ten times larger than it needs to be.
- Remove plugins and scripts you no longer use.
- Turn on caching, so pages aren’t rebuilt for every visitor.
- Avoid autoplay video on the home page.
Our free website speed and health check shows what’s making your pages heavy.
Green hosting questions
Is your hosting powered by renewable energy?
The data centres buy their electricity on 100% renewable supply contracts. The power itself comes from the grid, and the contracts match it with renewable generation.
Are you carbon neutral?
No, and we don’t claim to be. We host in efficient, renewably supplied data centres, but we don’t buy offsets.
Where are the servers?
In two data centres in Manchester. Our data centre page has the full details.
Does green hosting cost more?
No. All our hosting runs in the same data centres, so every plan gets the same renewable supply. Web hosting starts at £2.99 a month.
Can I say my website uses green hosting?
You can say it’s hosted in UK data centres that buy 100% renewable electricity. Avoid saying your website is carbon neutral.
Host your website in renewably supplied UK data centres
From £2.99 a month, with free migration and no contract.