INSTA Host

Insta Host and the environment

Here at INSTAhost, we have long recognised that we use a great deal of electricity to run servers for our customers, and also that manufacturing of computer hardware is itself a very energy and carbon-intensive process. As a business we also understand that using less servers and less electricity also saves us money, so we accept nor offer any excuses to not be efficient.

Our approach to managing our environmental impact is compliant with ISO 14001:2004, and is broadly described below.

Carbon Neutral Company

In September 2006, we began a process to ensure we became a Carbon Neutral webhost. In becoming Carbon Neutral, we worked with The CarbonNeutral Company to identify our 'carbon footprint', or put simply, the approximate volume of CO2 generated by INSTA host. It is calculated by assessing energy usage, business travel, and all components of the company's operations that consume power or generate waste and by-products. We discovered that we used a very large amount of electricity to power our server network, and that formed the vast bulk of our carbon footprint.

The next stage in the process was to explore ways to reduce this footprint and energy use wherever possible. This included a review of current suppliers to explore the viability of using 'green' suppliers or energy from renewable resources, and also examined efficiency technologies already in use. Finally, in order to 'neutralise' unavoidable CO2 emissions, we engaged in supporting a range of 'offset projects' to absorb or save the same amount of CO2 emissions as were being created.

INSTA Host  was initially supporting a sustainable forestry project, i.e. planting trees which in turn absorb CO2 as they grow. However, in response to concerns over the validity of forestry as a carbon offsetting measure, we have moved a portion of our  investment to support a new methane capture project in the Ruhr which has very measurable benefits (methane is 21 times more potent than CO2 as a greenhouse gas). We continue to be audited annually by the Carbon Neutral company and we are committed to minimising our environmental impact.

Energy efficiency policy

We adhere to the EU Code of Conduct for data centres, which stipulates a comprehensive range of best practices for data centre operators and hosting providers. These measures include power provision, cooling, good use of virtualisation, selection of efficient software, multiple tenders for selection of servers and much, much more. At present we exceed the minimum requirements to be participants of the scheme. Our energy efficiency measures have two main areas:

• Data centre
  Servers use a great deal of electricity so we have taken a number of steps to minimise this. The data centres we use are very efficient, for example using the latest cooling systems (a chilled water loop) so that as little energy as possible is wasted cooling the servers, and all the power provisioning systems (UPSes, power distribution etc) are very efficient. When choosing data centre facilities we now require compliance with the relevant recommendations of the European Union Code of Conduct for Data Centres.
  
  We also monitor the power usage of all racks and actively manage the power distribution which maximises energy efficiency within the data centres by eliminating hot / cold spots.
  
   
• Servers
  We source servers based in part on their energy-efficiency: in the last three years the amount of electricity an average server uses has roughly halved, but the amount of work they can do has increased by two to four times. We believe in spending a little extra on hardware to get the latest in energy-efficient machines, and gain the cost-savings in the long term through reduced power bills. We currently have a policy of replacing out-dated hardware after three years since Moore's Law makes replacing them economically and environmentally sensible (see below).
  
  
  
   

Reusing and recycling servers

There is a constant turn over in our server pool, and most servers just get reused by re-allocation to new customers, but after about three years it becomes economically and environmentally unsound to re-use, as the efficiency and reliability of the servers is now reduced. At this point, we recycle the server hardware.

In some cases we recycle it internally, for example by removing one processor from an older, less efficient model, and replacing its disks with energy-efficient versions, then redeploying it. Otherwise, we may  donate our end-of-life hardware to Computer Aid International. They then send it to Africa where the machines are greatly needed, and are used in a very economical (and therefore environmentally friendly) fashion (eg under a desk with no cooling requirements, and only switched on when needed).

Obviously, any server storage devices are comprehensively erased (by writing zeros to the entire disk several times) before they leave our control.