Due to recent surge in internet traffic, internet has rocketed as the number one medium for communication/ information exchange, becoming an invention capable of changing modern ways of communication.
Rise in Internet traffic means increase in number of users. It also means increase in people looking to expand their reach online and to do that they need to have their own web sites. Owning a web site is real easy, anyone can do that. The challenge is to make it accessible globally. To do that, web sites have to be placed at storages, which are connected to internet, capable of servicing many requests simultaneously. Such storages are called servers. Servers are large computers capable of performing complex calculations simultaneously, in very little time.
They have resources like huge disk space, RAM etc. Servers provide these resources to web sites which are hosted on them. The technical term for placing a web site on server is called ‘Web Hosting’ and the companies offering such services are referred to as ‘Web Hosts’.
Servers perform various operations such as processing the incoming request made by one of the users, generating response to those requests etc. Such operations require huge resources, and also huge amount of electric power.
So owning a server is not something that most users can afford. So, what is the remedy to these issues?
Web Hosts are the answer to all web hosting related problems. They are the service providers, who maintain a network of servers globally, and provide space for web sites on their servers in exchange for a payment, which is usually affordable.
As mentioned earlier, servers, due to their bulky size and due to the heavy computational operations that they perform, have an endless appetite for power. They gulp up huge amount of electric power continuously. This has been a matter of concern, as every other industry is trying to cut their emission levels to combat the ever rising menace of global warming, directly in terms of smoke, air pollutants etc, and indirectly by either using renewable sources of energy to power up their operations or/and by reducing their power usage as electric power generation accounts as one of major reasons for global warming.
There are many service providers in the market today who do not bother to contribute in such social issues. But all hope is not lost; as there are web hosts who have already started to make a notice of this issue and have started making contributions in their own ways. They have come up with innovative ideas such as powering up their servers using power generated from renewable sources such as, using solar panels wherever possible etc. We can also contribute in the fight against global warming by supporting service providers who choose greener operating techniques.