We’re delighted to share that as of December 2022 we are a green hosting provider!

In this blog post we explain what that means for the planet, and also what that means for you and for your website. Most of our customers will be unaffected by this change, but for some legacy customers there will be changes to how you manage your account.

Keep reading to find out more.

What does green hosting mean?

That means that the servers we use to host all websites on our current and new packages are powered by 100% renewable energy.

Our offices, where our support teams are based, are powered by 100% renewable energy.

As well as using greener energy, the servers and data centres we use prioritise efficiency to use less energy.

The data centres we use run at a PUE (power usage effectiveness) of 1.12 which is lower than the most other hosting providers.

The amount of power used by the servers hosting your website varies depending on demand. Whilst at busy times more power is used to keep your websites running quickly and efficiently, this is scaled back at quieter times, so there are energy savings here too.

Why is green hosting is important?

Whilst the carbon footprint of a single website is relatively small, the collective impact of the internet is pretty huge. Some studies estimate that the internet is responsible for 1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, between 2 and 4% of global emissions. That’s the same as the aviation industry.

Making greener choices when it comes to powering and cooling servers and data centres is an important step in making the internet healthier for the plant.

These are positive changes for the planet, for our business and for your carbon footprint. We’ve outlined what these changes mean for you and your website below.

Which SGIS packages have green hosting?

All of our current hosting packages, that’s SGIS Go, SGIS Grow, SGIS Pro, and WordPress Pro packages are now powered ​​by 100% renewable energy.

Legacy hosting packages, that’s Starter, Starter+, Home+, or Business are not on the green platform. From March 2023 there will be some changes to how you log in and manage your hosting. If you’d like to talk about moving to a green package, please get in touch by sending us a ticket.

I have a legacy package. How does this impact me?

The performance and hosting of your website will not be impacted.

However the management of your web hosting will be different.

From 01 March 2023, customers with a legacy package, that’s Starter, Starter+, Home+, or Business are not on the green platform will experience some changes to the way you log in and manage your hosting.

From March you will no longer be able to directly login to your hosting account via sgis.co.uk.

Instead, you will need to log in here https://ssl.extendcp.co.uk/login.cgi using the details provided when the hosting account was set up.

If you need these details to be resent then please contact us here https://sgis.co/help and we can re-issue them.

If you’d like to talk about moving to a green package, please get in touch by sending us a ticket.

What are the legacy packages?

The legacy packages are:

• Starter
• Starter+
• Home+
• Business

These were retired in 2019, so if you signed up for your hosting package before 2019 you could be on one of these packages.

If you signed up for your hosting package after 2019, then you will be on a new package powered by renewable energy.

How do I know what package I am on?

You can check which package you’re on by:

• Logging in to your account and check ‘My hosting’ here https://my.sgis.co.uk/clientarea.php?action=services
• Reviewing your latest invoice
• Sending a ticket to support

When do the changes happen?

For legacy accounts the changes to the way you log in will happen from 01 March 2023

Customers on SGIS Go, SGIS Grow, or SGIS Pro are already on green hosting packages and there will be no changes.

I’m now on a green package. How will things change for me?

If you’re already on SGIS Go, SGIS Grow, or SGIS Pro nothing will change and you can continue to log in and manage your hosting as normal.

If you’re on a legacy package; Starter, Starter+, Home+, or Business, there will be some changes when you log in to manage your hosting online.

Can I move to Green hosting?

Absolutely. If you want to move to our green hosting platform then please get in touch with support here https://sgis.co/help and we will outline the steps needed to migrate your account.