Green (renewable powered) website hosting

The Ethial Agency is proud to be the Green Web Foundation’s only South African and African verified green website hosting provider. 

As a specialist WordPress website development agency we take care of 100% of your domain management and website hosting needs. The truth is, our insatiable desire for everything digital and our business requirements to be visible online does come at a cost. The millions of servers and data centres around the world all use energy which is fuelling our dependency on fossil fuels and increasing manufacturing in ways never seen before. In short, having a website and a social media pages is contributing to global warming.

You cannot control much of where the energy used to produce your products and services come from – you can, however, choose green website hosting. We offer this eco-friendly website hosting service to both South African and international clients.

Why you should host your website with green website hosting.

The website hosting industry is producing more environmental pollution than the airline industry – let that one sink in. The biggest reason to go green!

  1. A webserver produces more C02 annually than a car – let that one sink in too… 
  2. Combined, data centres use more energy than multiple nuclear plants – and that is just in the U.S.A.
  3. Most data centres are pulling energy directly from the electricity grid, which is mostly powered by fossil fuels.
  4. Using renewable energy to host your website will promote your brand reputation – projecting your green credentials will say a lot about your organisation.
  5. Ditch the sleeping pills – you’ll get a much better night’s rest knowing your website isn’t contributing to harming our planet! 

 

Green website hosting, South Africa

The choice is yours

If you are about to commission a website or would consider moving your existing one, we hope that you go the green route and choose a provider who can supply green website hosting for your website. 

How do we do it?

We calculate an estimated annual electricity usage for the web server(s) that host our client’s websites, and we purchase one year’s renewable energy in advance to offset that usage. Do we have a wind turbine powering the building where our web servers are housed? No. It is not possible to purchase green electricity, and direct it in the electricity grid to a specific building. We purchase renewable electricity from Darling Wind Farm in the Western Cape, thereby contributing to the green economy in South Africa and adding clean electricity to an otherwise, and mostly dirty grid.

In addition we use a content delivery network to deliver a website’s content to every corner of the globe, quickly and sustainably using CloudFlare. Their goal is simple: help build a better, greener Internet with no carbon emissions that is powered by renewable energy. You can follow CloudFlare’s own impressive emission offset updates.

> VIEW: The Ethical Agency’s current electricity certificate
> VIEW: data on renewable energy claims

Our digital marketing services

Digital marketing

Digital marketing services in Cape Town & Johannesburg – digital marketing strategies & campaigns: social media, SEO, Google Ads, PPC/Paid media, content creation, influencer marketing, video marketing.

Branding and graphic design

World-class branding and graphic design services for both digital and print. Specialising in brand development, stationery, publication design, social media, digital and website design.

Website design & development

Experienced WordPress website design and development, website maintenance and renewable energy powered hosting. Ensuring security and stability of your robust website at all times.

THE STATISTICS: "Nearly every action performed on the internet has the cost of a resultant carbon emission: making a Google search emits .2g of CO2, watching a YouTube video for only 10 minutes emits 1g of CO2, and simply owning a Gmail account for a year emits 1200g of CO2.

Unfortunately the inner-workings of all the data connections taking place each time we click are hidden from view and it’s difficult to truly comprehend the magnitude of scale when it comes to energy usage, technological production, electronic disposal and all that goes along with it. To quote Al Gore, “It really is an inconvenient truth.” Some scary reading below:

  1. TIME: Your Data Is Dirty: The Carbon Price of Cloud Computing
  2. The Guardian: How viral cat videos are warming the planet
  3. The environmental impacts of server hosts
  4. It isn’t just the servers one need to consider, it’s all the peripheral requirements of packaging, maintenance, and disposal etc. You can read on article on 8 Ways Data Center Environmental Impact Goes Beyond Emissions
  5. The Environmental Toll of a Netflix Binge
Kia Kids-innovate-africa
Kia Kids-innovate-africa
2024-01-11
We received an impecable service from Brett and the team. We received exactly what we've ordered at a really good price. As a rising social impact organisation, every penny spend without the exchange of value could paralise our mission. But, The Ethical Agency, even though they work with global organisations, they were flexible to support us and we are very happy with their service. Bret went above what the briefing required, by taking his time to call/ virtual meet with us to provide added support. The team live up-to their organisation's name and values. A big thanks to you Brett and the team. We hope to work with you guys again in the near future!
Christo van Schalkwyk
Christo van Schalkwyk
2023-12-13
What an absolute pleasure working with the TEA team! Professional, friendly and always willing to help. Highly recommended.
Scott Peter Smith
Scott Peter Smith
2023-12-13
We've worked a number of times with the Ethical Agency now and they have always delivered, on time, on brief and have been available for any tweaks. Lovely to work with
Just SA
Just SA
2023-12-13
Fabulous, committed team! TEA are always willing to go the extra mile to do what is right.
Michelle Shields
Michelle Shields
2023-11-08
I have really enjoyed working with The Ethical Agency. They have been professional and friendly and really helped elevate the brand identity of our new venture. Thank you to Brett and his star team.
Evariste Umba
Evariste Umba
2023-08-18
Good feedback from the Switchboard and CEO
Joette Emerton
Joette Emerton
2023-05-23
I've worked with The Ethical Agency for a few years now, the team is always friendly and helpful and they produce great work! They're always mindful of costs with us being a non-profit, which we really appreciate. All round a great design agency that I highly recommend!
Kira Erwin
Kira Erwin
2023-05-20
The Ethical Agency recently designed and developed the Africa Zero-Waste Hub. They were very professional and responsive. I was really impressed by both the creativity and development skills. I would use them again in a heartbeat!
Liam Murphy
Liam Murphy
2023-05-17
Working with The Ethical Agency has been easy, effective and has delivered the desired results. They became a part of our team and delivered across a range of project needs, equipping us with a brand and site that allows us to more effectively achieve our mission. All this while reflecting the same values of sustainability and respect for people and the planet that are at the core of what motivates us at Vittoria Technology.