Define Solar Energy

I was thinking this morning about how many websites are there in the world? I hear all the time about new companies, blogs, and sites that are launched everyday and how more people globally are getting connected via the Internet.

I tried to do a google search to find this out, but I have not had any luck. I was looking to take that number and try to do a calculation to see how much energy worldwide is used to power the billions of websites out there. This is probably a great question for a student at MIT, Harvard, Oxford or some other top university to answer.

I am sure that the amount of energy to power all the sites on the world wide wide is probably astronomical. I was looking at the bottom of our main site www.GreenEnergyTV.com and it says Solar Powered Web Site Hosting provided by AISO.Net I began to wonder "what if all web hosting companies world-wide started to operate like AISO and the other small number of environmentally friendly web hosting companies? My guess is that there would be a huge reduction of the internet's carbon footprint.

As for AISO, I do know that they have been providing environmentally friendly web hosting since 1997 and that they own and operates their own green data center and network that is powered by 120 solar panels, not energy credits. They are also putting a "green roof" on top their data center to reduce their cooling requirements by up to 50% and have switched out their cfl's with led lights, which do not contain mercury and use less energy.

The financial cost to have our website hosted by them is comparable to other web hosting companies, except their web hosting solution does not leave an Internet carbon footprint, which is a big difference. I always recommend others to look into a green web hosting company and be part of the solution.

If anyone out in internet land can accurately answer the question "How many websites are there in the world", then we will feature you in an upcoming blog post and send you some eco friendly products! - Stay Green!

Future Posts: Best green companies, alternative energy website, companies going green, define solar energy, eco friendly living, eco friendly products, green jobs, obama alternative energy, tips for living green, renewable fuels.

Comments for How many Websites are there in the World?

Thursday, February 12, 2009 by Kevin:: I haveno idea the answer, but it is brilliant idea. I own a small business and we have 2 sites and I am going to make the switch today to a green hosting company. Great suggestion!
Thursday, February 12, 2009 by Carl:: I have never heard that phrase you used "internet carbon footprint". I have to say you coined it and it is an area I have never thought about before. The energy being used to power the internet and websites is probably trillions of kwh's.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009 by morten:: I am looking for total energy consumption on webhosting - do you know of any surveys? I need it to find out what the energy consumption on server-side is on average pr. pageview (and let us say pageview is on average 50 sec). I hope you can help BR Morten
Tuesday, April 7, 2009 by Green Lady:: Why not just shut down the internet altogether? Or better yet, let the UN decide which websites are suitable for public viewing. Just think of the huge carbon footprint we'll reduce if we can shrink the internet to 5 million websites!
Tuesday, September 22, 2009 by Doug Wilson:: Green Lady...If the web wasn't, as it is, all you could do would be to think about it. Letting the UN, or anybody else, decide what's good for me is just not a consideration. I rarely comment on comments .but that has got to be one of the craziest things I've ever heard a human being say.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 by sdadson :: You surely know this figure by now that there are approx 187M web sites of which 31M were added in 08....I thought http://www.worldometers.info/ might reveal a specific # at a specific time but don't. Cheers