4 Green Changes for Tech Companies

Back in July, Snap Out’s Managing Director, Dr Chloe Sharp, shed light on a fact that most of us don’t even think about: That our data usage is probably harming the planet.

In her article for Impakter, she covered the fact that, thanks to the huge amount of electricity, water and land required for data centres to function, even something as simple as people posting on Instagram is detrimental to the environment. Pretty mind-blowing, right?

At Snap Out, we think that all products or services should be developed with sustainability in mind. In fact, it’s one of our core values: We believe that tech should be good for people and good for the planet in equal measures.

Whilst finding out this sort of shocking information about the impact of the tech industry can be overwhelming, it’s a business that also had the power to do so much good in terms of sustainability. That’s why we wanted to create a blog post with our top tips for making your tech company more green.

Consider where you’re storing your data

Of course, we first have to cover your data storage!

It can be easy to opt for the most well-known or the cheapest options when it comes to keeping the data for/from your product or service somewhere. However, if you want to truly embody sustainability in your company, opt for green storage instead.

One great option can simply be choosing cloud storage. As Jamie Morgan notes, “The cloud is revolutionizing the IT industry in many ways. Customers consume 77% fewer servers, 84% less power and reduce carbon emissions by 88% by using the cloud, and there is no denying that its positive impact on the environment is just another one of it’s many positive attributes.” (Source).

To take this one step further, choose a cloud company that usesrenewable energy to power their data centres. For example, UK company PeaSoup: “PeaSoup, a company with a heritage of disrupting the cloud market by being the first in Europe to use hyper-converged technology, is again innovating in the cloud market by using ultra-modern, green data centres for its eco-friendly cloud services.”

Opt for eco-friendly web hosting

Whilst a lot of web hosting services use conventional data centres, some make a real effort to ensure that their processes are as green as possible.

For example, we’ve received multiple recommendations for Green Hosting, founded by Make Hay: UK servers that are completely powered by wind! That means that their hosting servers, routers and cooling systems are all powered by 100% renewable energy, as opposed to fossil fuels.

This is a great option for tech companies who need to host their websites, without worrying about the impact it could have on the planet.

Switch to green energy

Taking your computers from “standby” mode to turning them off at the plug just isn’t enough in 2019!

Whether it’s in your offices, your warehouse or in any other area that your company works, switching to green energy is a great step in the direction of sustainability. There are plenty of providers out there, including Octopus, Ecotricityand Bulb. All of these companies sell 100% renewable energy, either from solar, wind or hydro.

Start carbon offsetting

As a tech company, you will produce carbon emissions. To an extent, that’s inevitable.

However, that doesn’t mean that you have to abandon your quest for sustainability! More and more companies are instead seeking carbon neutrality, or even carbon negativity, through offsetting.

Carbon offsetting means that you remove an equivalent amount of carbon from the atmosphere to that which you produce. As such, you negate the negative impact it would have on the environment, usually through methods such as planting trees.

Don’t worry though, you don’t have to get out there yourself with a spade and some seeds! It’s possible to pay for offsetting schemes so that someone else does the legwork for you. For example, Climate Partner.

The takeaways

There is a multitude of ways that you can make your company more eco-friendly and, of course, a lot of them will depend on the nature of your specific product or service. However, we hope that this has given you some strong starting points to begin taking steps in the right direction.

Often, simply being conscious of things like energy and data storage is the most important thing when it comes to being a more sustainable company. By doing the above steps, you can help to move tech towards becoming the beacon of eco-friendly industry that it has the potential to be!