Sustainability As A Success Factor For Companies

How do eco-conscious businesses, startups, and bloggers deal with the challenges of digitalization and environmental protection? They do this.
sustainable hosting

The Internet is growing and growing, billions of different websites exist in the early 21st century and there are more and more. With a view to this future, new technologies and the digitization of processes are being developed and implemented at great speed today.

What does sustainability in the company mean?

Digital doesn’t automatically mean sustainable. So, how do eco-conscious businesses, startups, and bloggers deal with the challenges of digitalization on the one hand and environmental protection on the other?

statista-2022-website-chart

Source: Statista / Number of websites online from 1991 to 2021

 

The importance of sustainability in business depends on company size, industry, and location. Green business models are primarily growth models that take the environment into account. Sustainability in business is more than just taking environmental ecological issues into account – and goes far beyond the paperless office and avoiding waste. Rather, a sustainability strategy combines three components: ecological, economic, social. Sustainable development fundamentally means structures that are sustainable indefinitely, have sufficient resources, and make the company fit for the future. 

Important measures can be taken, translating the improvement strategy into concrete actions. For example, renewable energy can be used, air and car travel can be reduced, vegetarian meals can be offered in the canteen, and kitchen waste can be avoided. Another important measure is the procurement of Green IT.

What is Green IT?

Green IT is more than just a nice label to give the company an environmentally friendly image. It is about using information and communications technology in the most environmentally friendly and resource-conserving way possible. 

What implementation measures are there? 

Green IT implementation measures are as follows: 

Matching IT equipment to demand

By aligning the performance of PCs, printers, and servers with actual requirements, energy costs can be reduced.

Centralizing device landscapes

The device landscape can be centralized, because not every employee needs their own complete set of equipment. Multifunction devices, which combine the functions of a printer and scanner, for example, are more efficient than operating individual devices.

Switching off devices

Switchable power strips and timers help to disconnect unneeded devices from the power grid. Correct configuration of the PC and activation of the energy-saving function also ensures that individual system components only run when they are needed.

Considering energy efficiency when purchasing

Energy efficiency begins with procurement. If you pay attention to the energy efficiency of all components when purchasing them, you will save money for the next few years of use. 

Cooling the server room

Power consumption is reduced by server rooms without direct sunlight, windows with reflective foils, optimized server room insulation, and optimal airflow control.

Optimizing data management

Identical or similar documents stored in different locations require storage capacity, reduce computing power, and consume unnecessarily more energy. Especially in larger companies, optimized and centralized data and file management ensure greater energy efficiency.

Automate IT processes

If regular processes such as backups run automatically, they can be scheduled for times when there is free capacity in the system. This helps to make optimum use of system resources. However, this should not prevent components from being switched off completely in the evening or at night, where this would be possible. It then makes more sense to let the processes run in the background at times when the system is less busy.

Using open-source software

Open-source software not only reduces acquisition costs but also often works more flexibly and efficiently. This lowers the requirements for the hardware used and thus saves resources and energy.

How to reach a sustainable online presence through green hosting

Business owners often have completely different problems at the start of their business than dealing with sustainability in their own company. Yet taking a sustainable course early on can be a guarantee of success for the company because it creates a completely different image. Responsible business practices offer companies numerous advantages and make them fit for the future. 

What is green hosting?

According to forecasts, information technologies will have a greater impact on the environment. The Corona pandemic is currently accelerating this development: People are traveling less – and surfing more. But all this information, content, and web pages must of course be operated by servers and hosting providers, which consume vast amounts of electricity.

The sustainability effects are correspondingly large if we switch to energy-efficient systems and green electricity here as well. As far as sustainability is concerned, electronics is still a long way from “Green IT”. But that shouldn’t stop you from looking for providers who are already setting a good example.

In the field of the Internet and IT, companies are therefore increasingly thinking about efficient, environmentally friendly web hosting, so-called green web hosting.

How does green web hosting work?

If you are trying to be holistically sustainable, you should also take a close look at the services that are supposedly not yet available as ecological variants. For example, IONOS is committed to ensuring that its infrastructure is climate-neutral and free from ecological disadvantages. With the offered hosting, cloud, and server products, you as a company reduce the impact on the climate sustainably.

The big difference to conventional data centers, where the servers for websites & co are located, is that the data centers are not only energy efficient. In the best case, the electricity to run these centers comes exclusively from renewable energies.

How to a green domain

Obtaining an eco-domain is now as straightforward as with conventional providers. One checks the availability of the domain with most green hosting services and is then guided through the purchase and set-up process. The performance of the website is usually equivalent to providers who get their electricity from nuclear power, lignite, etc. – just green.

Green IT is an often-underestimated opportunity to significantly reduce energy costs in the company.  Whether the company does this out of a pronounced ecological awareness or in order to reduce costs is irrelevant. The end result will be the realization that sustainable IT pays off – for the environment and for the company itself. Not to mention the image gain for the company.

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