This Blog Is 100 Percent Solar

Most web-hosting companies pride themselves on the speed and reliability of the servers they house in their data centers.

But for a select few, the pride comes from knowing that the electricity coursing through their servers is 100 percent clean.

Over the past several years, these boutique firms have carved out a "green" niche in the crowded web-hosting market by running data centers powered entirely by solar panels.

The panels are not only good for the environment, they're also good for business. In addition to saving the companies thousands of dollars a month in electric bills, they're drawing in customers from all over the world who want to host their websites in a green data center.

"That was a big plus for us," said Phil Nail, technology manager at Southern California's Affordable Internet Services Online, or AISO, which converted its data center to solar power in 2002 as a cost-saving measure. "We've brought on probably a good couple-thousand customers since the panels were installed. The majority of those customers were searching for green hosting options and found us."

Customers who signed up with AISO long before the panels were installed are also pleased.

"It's a nice match with what we do," said Mike Lutz, director of distribution at MacGillivray Freeman Films, an Imax film production studio in Laguna Beach, California. "Over 30 years, we have focused on delivering films that feature science and conservation, and working with a company that is powered by solar power certainly fits that bill."

The positive response is not surprising to John Gethoefer, president of Portland, Oregon, company ecoSky. Gethoefer launched ecoSky in 2003 with the goal of serving companies that want to operate with the least impact on the environment.

"What it comes down to is that there's a lot of movement in this country and in this world by people trying to live more sustainably," he said. "A lot of business owners are responding to that."

Not all the companies get their power from on-site solar panels. Some buy renewable energy credits from their regional power utility. The utility, in turn, agrees to purchase a set amount of electricity from a green producer, like a solar farm or a wind farm.

But the end result for the companies' clients is the same: They feel better about themselves at the end of the day.

"Customers who are residential subscribers -- they get the peace of mind knowing that they're part of something that is improving society's relationship with the environment and reducing pollution," said Gethoefer.

"For business users, they also get to extend that to their customer base," he added. "There are a lot of business users who advertise that they have an environmentally responsible website."

Indeed, some ecoSky clients feature small "Powered by Solar Energy" logos at the bottom of their web pages. Similarly, AISO clients often display a "Site hosted with 100% Solar Energy" button.

Unfortunately, as well-meaning as they are, these gestures aren't likely to have much of an impact on the world's overall energy consumption -- at least not until major data centers begin to follow the lead of the boutiques. And that's not going to happen anytime soon, say energy analysts

"Data centers may be quicker to adopt alternative energy faster than other businesses, but that doesn't mean they're going to adopt it rapidly," said Dale Sartor, a researcher at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "There may be a handshake -- the idea of having multiple sources of energy and distributed supply may be appealing -- but my gut feeling is that they're probably not going to be making the huge investment."

Part of the problem, said Sartor, is that large web-hosting companies and internet service providers just don't have the roof space to set up enough solar panels to make their investment worthwhile.

A data center at a major web-hosting company may need as much as 200 watts per square foot of power, according to Sartor. Solar panels, on the other hand, typically generate 10 watts per square foot on a clear day.

AISO has worked around this problem by installing its panels on the ground around its data center, which is located on a 1.3-acre plot in rural Romoland, California. The company also hosts fewer websites than massive data centers, so its power requirements are lower.

At the least, large hosting companies can buy renewable energy credits. But those don't save the company any money, the way solar panels can once they've paid for themselves.

Or, they can focus on conserving energy. But even there, the boutique companies seem to be more nimble. AISO recently upgraded 500 of the older processors in its data center to more efficient AMD Opteron processors -- a move that cut power consumption by 60 percent, according to Nail.

The company's data center was also designed from the ground up with power conservation in mind. Solar tubes bring sunlight into the building so lamps aren't needed in the daytime. Extra layers of insulation keep the cool air in the building. And cooling ducts carry the heat dissipated by the servers straight outside.

For now, AISO president and owner Sherry Nail (who is married to Phil Nail) isn't concerned about what the bigger hosting companies are doing -- or not doing. She's just happy to be giving her clients the best possible place to host their sites, she said.

Of course, should some of the bigger hosting companies' clients decide they'd be better off with a more environmentally responsible host, like AISO, she won't turn them away.