CultofMac.com Goes 100% Solar-Powered With AISO.net

As we watch in horror what’s happening in the Gulf (and ongoing in Nigeria), I’m proud to announce that CultofMac.com is now 100% solar-powered.

We have a new green host, AISO.net, which operates the world’s only 100% solar-powered data center.

Based in Southern California, AISO came highly recommended for quality of service, but I’m most impressed by the company’s green credentials.

Unlike other data centers, which often buy carbon offsets to assert their green bona fides, there’s no oil or coal in sight at AISO.

“Everything is powered by solar, including our office, all servers, a/c systems, networking and other hardware,” the company says. “We are the first and only 100% completely solar powered, carbon free hosting company that does not use energy credits.”

AISO’s data center is powered by a pair of solar arrays mounted on the facility’s roof. The center is cooled by low-energy, water-based air conditioning units, and its office computers will soon be powered by an ingenious wind turbine mounted in the air conditioners’ intake ducts. The company runs on sun, air and water.

“The sun is dependable and nobody is waging wars over it,” says the company’s founder, Phil Nail, who took the company solar in 2002.

To prove it’s purely solar, AISO put a live webcam on the roof to show its solar array in action. (Warning: it’s a very boring, very dry joke).

DON'T MISS
Apple is ‘Evaluating’ Solar Panels to Power Our Future iDevices [Report]

As well as CultofMac.com, AISO hosts websites big and small, including a couple of data-intensive sites for film industry clients in nearby Hollywood.

I couldn’t be happier that we’ve gone green. Renewable energy is clearly the future and as forward-looking, technophile site, it was an obvious choice to make.

We encourage you to join us. If you’re a webmaster and interested in signing up with AISO, please use this affiliate link. We’ll get some credit to apply against our ever-growing bandwidth bill.

11 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

(sorry, you need Javascript to see this e-mail address)| Read more posts by Leander Kahney.

Posted in Cult of Mac, News, Top stories, Web |

http://www.pendleproducts.com martin_tf
Nice one, its good to see that solar is relevant in places with enough sunshine. A far off dream here in rainy England!
Christopher
Good work. Nice to see someone putting their money where their mouth is.
It would be interesting to see how much oil/water is used to manufacture and maintain all their hardware: then we could see what effect their move to solar has as a proportion of their total operations footprint. Naturally, all the other hosts are facing the same costs, but it would be nice to see whether the move to solar is ‘worth it’ in the context of what might be far greater footprints.
Nevertheless, a saving is a saving, irrespective of its context. $500 off a $10,000 car is the same as $500 off a $100,000 car…
ElectroBoy
Excellent. Nice one, Sir.
Alexandre
This is great guys!
Alan
I didn’t know such places existed! Well done! I don’t suppose this has anything to do with your site being rather slow to load for the past few days?
Andrew
I hope that this will cure whatever has been your hosting problems? I’ve been Timing Out and more and more trying to access your site!
Andrew
It’s cloudy out throttle down the bandwidth… on COM…
Pauly
Nice guys. That’s cool.
http://cultofmac.com Leander Kahney
Yeah, I gotta admit the slowdown in load speed is a consequence of moving to the new host. We’re still figuring out the best hardware and bandwidth configuration. Looks like we’ll have to throw more resources at it. Don’t worry — it will get better.
http://www.security-light.org Jamie Stewart
Air Conditioners are really necessary if you have allergic rhinitis and some other respiratory conditions “
http://www.fabricshowercurtainlab.com Gabriel Ellis
air conditioner is always a necessity at home:;”