I’m pleased to announce that my website, treesong.org, is now solar powered! All of the other websites that I host are solar powered too. If you run a website and it isn’t powered by on-site solar, make the switch today!
This change has been a long time in coming. Back in 2016, I opened a shared web hosting account with AISO, a solar powered hosting company. However, my old account was filled with a hodgepodge of active and inactive sites, some of which would require time and effort to set up properly on my new AISO account. It wasn’t until this summer that I set aside the time I needed to finish the move.
Why choose solar powered hosting? Computers have notoriously high carbon footprints. This means that they contribute greatly to human-caused climate change. You may have already thought about reducing your carbon footprint in your home or business, but what about your web presence?
Your website exists as data stored on a computer somewhere. If you don’t host it yourself, it’s probably on a shared or dedicated server in an energy-intensive (and thus emissions-intensive) server farm.
You’ll probably never see that server farm in person, so it may just seem like an abstract idea to you. But your website is in fact stored on a physical computer that exists somewhere in physical reality. Keeping that computer turned on and connected to the internet all day and night generates greenhouse gas emissions — unless it’s powered by the sun!
Switching to solar powered hosting won’t solve everything. There are still plenty of other changes that individuals and institutions need to make in order for us to transition to a zero emissions (or negative emissions!) society. But if reducing your carbon footprint is important to you, and you have one or more websites, then switching to solar powered hosting is an important step in the right direction.
My name is Treesong. I’m a father, author, talk radio host, and Real Life Superhero. Follow me on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, and Ko-fi for my latest climate fiction releases and superhero adventures. Sign up for my newsletter to receive free climate fiction in your inbox. Check out my bookshop for climate change books, including reading lists for climate fiction, climate nonfiction, and climate poetry!
