Climate of Our Future

New carbon offsetting system means websites no longer need to impact the
environment

The internet is credited as one of humanity’s most important inventions, providing instant worldwide access to a wealth of information, research and communications tools. With the effects of global warming threatening our survival, it is important to consider the impact such a large, somewhat ethereal entity such as the world wide web may have on our environment.

All web sites are hosted on computers known as web servers, machines that are switched on 24/7 and always connected to the vast networks that form the internet. These machines are often forgotten when businesses and individuals consider their energy consumption, especially due to the fact that websites and blogs are generally hosted in data centres by specialist third parties. The reality is that every website uses electricity and that the generation of most electricity results in carbon emissions, causing damage to the environment and contributing to the effects of global warming.

TickGreen.com, an initiative started in Sydney, Australia, has recognised the need for websites to go green and has developed an innovative way for businesses to easily offset the environmental impact caused by their websites. By securing carbon credits generated through carbon sequestration (Government accredited reforestation projects), TickGreen.com has developed a method for determining the carbon produced by a range of different sized websites and provides an interface for businesses and bloggers to calculate and offset their website’s contribution. Once signed up, they can place the TickGreen.com badge on their website to show that they have offset their carbon emissions. It is a simple and effective way for anyone to reduce their carbon footprint and show that they care.

About TickGreen.com ’s Founder

Created by Sydney-based web professional, Bradley Hook, TickGreen.com was a response to the fact that businesses and bloggers have very little awareness of the environmental impact websites cause. Having worked in the web industry for over 10 years and contributed to several publications on web innovations and technology, he felt that the internet, being one of the tools that can seriously help us avert the threat of climate change, should not actually contribute to it.

Brad said, “The internet has the potential to help us plan, collaborate, research and ultimately reverse the potentially catastrophic impact global warming could have on our planet. My aim is to make the internet an environmentally responsible tool that we can be proud of, and so TickGreen.com provides an easy way for every website owner to make their site green.”