An Inconvenient Truth: A Convenient Option?

So I’m checking in for a BA flight this morning online and I notice that I’m now being offered the chance to offset my carbon emissions. A return to the East coast of the USA results in 1.32 tonnes of CO2 and the cost to offset this will apparently cost me £9.88. Note to self: I must look into this and start doing it.

Anyway, this got me thinking about a pal of mine who is associated with a company that claims to be able to offset the environmental cost of hosting your own web site. Sounds weird right? But think about it, hosting your own web site on your chosen ISP’s server means that all that data you are so proud of is sitting (and gently humming away) on a server somewhere. Now even an efficient server emits over two tonnes of carbon per year, that’s more than my return to Baltimore!

How does it work for the web then? For a £6 payment www.coco2.org will offset 100kg of carbon per year to cover the emissions that your web server generates. Whether this type of activity is proven to make a difference yet I’m not sure. I guess we’ll all learn more about this in the near future. I doubt too many environmentalists will read this blog; but if you are a green guru and a goodly geek to match then do let me know.