What we are doing

We do not claim to be 'green' or that we offer 'green hosting' as a specific product, but we do attempt to provide our hosting services in as green/environmentally way as possible. We are genuinely seeking to reduce costs, for both ourselves and our customers, at every opportunity and this includes cost to the environment.

We certainly do not want to create a climate of Greenwash, where we produce a whole range of environmentally friendly based claims that frankly do not hold up under close inspection. What we do want to do is determine what is considered current best practise in the hosting Industry, what tools/techniques are available to assist us in reducing our carbon footprint and then implementing what we can for the benefit of our customers.

Green hosting should not be viewed as a 'Badge of Honour' or simply a buzz marketing term, it really must be viewed as a key business driver. Reducing costs and improving operational efficiency are critical objectives for any organisation at any time, more so during a period of global economic turmoil, and adopting genuine energy efficient measures and practises in the IT arena can help businesses achieve this. Going green makes simple business sense.

EU Data Centre Code of Conduct

iomart Hosting is a founder signatory to the EU Code of Data Centre Conduct, and as such has publically declared its intent to adhere to the recommendations laid out in the code. Participants commit to implementing a subset of expected best practice and to annually report energy consumption. The Code of Conduct will be continuously developed and updated in consultation with stakeholders to follow technological development.

The software monitors and models the actual power consumption of each rack and provides iomart with real data enabling the company to monitor and manage power consumption reduction.

Data Centre Improvements

As iomart Hosting refurbishes and upgrades its UK Network of Data Centres, it constantly seeks to reduce its operational impact upon the environment. An example of this is the replacement of the cooling units within the centres. For example, iomart Hosting recently installed new cooling down flow units in its Nottingham data centre which utilise seven per cent less power than the units they replaced. They also incorporate a process called Hot Gas Re-Heat (HGRG) which efficiently re-heats cool air during dehumidification by utilising heat that would normally be rejected by the condenser.

The hot discharge gas re-heats the cooled air after it has passed over the evaporator coil to maintain the room set point. The gas from the re-heat coil then rejoins the standard discharge line and is delivered to the condenser. This method of re-heating is far more efficient than existing electric heat or low pressure hot water as no further power input is required over the standard power requirement for the refrigeration circuit. On average this delivers 62% less power input than conventional methods.

Selective Procurement

iomart Hosting has a policy to only purchase the most energy efficient equipment that it can, for example the only servers that the company will directly purchase are the Dell PowerEdge and the HP Proliant energy efficiency ranges.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you wish to learn more about our environmental policy and the practical steps that we are taking.