SUSTAINABLE WEB HOSTING

Reducing emissions. Using recyclables. Becoming 'carbon neutral'. There are a lot of buzz words and catch phrases in our society today regarding having less of an impact on our environment. Big businesses, municipalities, even your local grocery stores are making (or are being asked/told to make) big efforts to reduce their "carbon imprint". It has to be more than just talk, though. You can't just buy six reusable canvas grocery bags and think you're doing the world a favor when you're driving a full-size SUV to get you to the grocery store.

As an Oregon web hosting provider, we at Capstone Web Services have been considering what we can do to limit our impact on the environment. The major resource we use in the operation of our business is electricity. In addition to our servers and network equipment, power is used by the cooling, security, and fire suppression systems at our data facility.

Capstone Web Services uses 'energy-efficient'-rated servers, and other conservational technology is being applied at the data facility whenever possible. Still, for every Watt of power used by all the web hosting equipment, it takes another Watt to keep that same equipment cool enough to continue running at its best.

From an energy usage standpoint, web hosting is a costly business. Its impact on the environment is considerably higher when when you compare it to other industries. That is where renewable energy comes in.

Powered By The Wind

Our data facility is enrolled in PGE's Clean Wind program, purchasing blocks of renewable wind power that is generated at wind farms in northeastern Oregon, including the Klondike energy facility and PGE's new Bigalow Canyon wind farm project. The new power generated at these wind farms is fed into the grid to offset our consumption of electricity from non-renewable sources. By negating the demand on the power grid from non-renewable sources at a level equivalent to what is used by our business, we have become a carbon-neutral web host.

Unlike 'carbon offsets' and 'energy credits', the Clean Wind program enables our data facility to invest in this renewable energy program, from these Oregon wind farms, to direclty benefit the Pacific Northwest.

As a business member of the Clean Wind program, our data facility has chosen to
offset 100% of our web hosting infrastructure with clean wind power.

Like Kermit The Frog said, "It isn't easy being green." So much is out there declaring itself to be 'clean', 'green', or 'sustainable'. It is very important to us that it's more than words...more than a certificate to display or a tree planted in our name. At the same time, you don't have to be the most "green" person to see that this is a good thing, and one that we can all take part in.

We are pleased to be able to say to our customers that Capstone Web Services one of the VERY few Oregon web hosting companies (the only one in the Willamette Valley) that offers a true sustainable web hosting solution, with web servers physically located in Oregon.
Our web hosting truly is "powered by the wind".

Learn More About Renewable Energy

We encourage you to learn more about how you can participate in renewable programs for home and business. Please contact your local power utility to find out more about wind and other energy programs available in your area.